brunos

Since 25 May, the French government imposed a "quatorzaine volontaire" on all arrivals from outside EU+.
Only French nationals and permanent residents can currently enter France (plus exceptions).
I would appreciate if anyone could share their experience with that "quatorzaine volontaire" since 25 May.

irishguy28

Done correctly, it means self-isolating for 14 days. Surely, after 3 months of the pandemic, you can picture what that entails, or imagine what it would mean in your specific circumstances...

brunos

Stay at Home Quarantine rules can be very different in different countries. In Hong Kong, you have to fill a form with your details, including your home address where you will quarantine (unless you come from a country deserving quarantine in dedicated centers). You are tested and await the results at (near) the airport. You await results there if you land in the morning or overnight at a dedicated hotel if you land in afternoon/evening. If negative you are given an electronic wristband connect to an App and proceed home. You are not allowed to exit your home (even for food shopping) and checks are frequent and easy with the wristband, and phone calls, and visits. You are basically totally forbidden to go out for any reason. Somewhat similar in SIngapore and some other Asian countries. The UK just implemented a home quarantine for all arrivals, but it seems very lax.

But France has never published and instructions/details on this "voluntary quarantine". There is a strong legislative backing of quarantine as recently approved by Parliament, but no d�cret or instructions yet since 25 May when this measure came in force.
I suppose that it will be more publicized by mid-June when/if EU residents are allowed for non-essential travel. But French citizens can already arrive in France and are now subject to this quarantine if arriving from Hong Kong like me.There was no quarantine for arrivals before 25 May.

NickB

I think that most of us have an understanding of what the concept of quarantine and self-isolation cover. What is far less obvious is what is meant by this "voluntary" quarantine. Does the fact that the quarantine is voluntary means that I can decide not to do it if I do not feel like it? There are a number of exemptions to the voluntary quarantine. What would be the point of listing a number of exemptions if nobody is forced to do it anyway and doing it is purely voluntary? What happens if, on entering the country, it is obvious that the individual is not going to observe the quarantine? Would they be refused entry (presumably not for a French national since you cannot deny entry to your territory to your own nationals but quid regarding others)? Would a mandatory quarantine be imposed (bearing in mind that pr�fets have the power to impose such quarantines on individuals)? The voluntary quarantine is referred in some official texts such as some circulaires on border controls, which would suggest that there is at least some attempt at enforcement, however 'soft', but no details are provided and I have not come across any d�cret or arr�t�
that would provide implementation details.

There are plenty of things which are unclear about the "voluntary quarantine" and I think that what brunos is after is a little more clarity on this, in particular in case some FTers who are notionally potentially subject to voluntary quarantine have had a recent experience on this to report.

MsEllie

But does it mean that I, a US citizen, can come to France if I quarantine for 14 days?

af fp

No you cannot come in.

If any French citizen (and foreign family member) has experienced arriving in France from abroad, I am very curious.

NickB

No, or not yet at any rate. The quarantine rules are in addition to current restrictions, not in replacement of them. At present, most non-EU nationals are not allowed to travel to France except for a handful of exceptions of limited significance. Whether to open the Schengen area to non-EU nationals and, if so, when is on the table for discussion next week among EU Member States. Until that discussion has taken place and decisions have been taken to implement it, the status quo remains.

brunos

This is indeed what I was asking. I got people I know returning in a week time. I will do it soon too.
Here is one experience (in French), I believe landing on 30 May.
https://lepetitjournal.com/hong-kong...n=NL+Hong+Kong

brunos

We are now 28 June, so one month past 25 May, and many pax must have qualified for "voluntary" quarantine upon return from UK or third-countries (French nationals).

Like many expats, we are eager to know what is involved, if anything. Please.

ATLCDG

I arrived in France on Friday from the US. I am a French resident and American citizen. I just returned to France from the US. Delta is basically clearing you and your paperwork before you checkin(no OLCI) and again before you board. Once on board you fill out another form with all your contact details and your address in France...also your flight and seat number. Delta collects this one form for the French officials. Upon arrival and no line, French customs looked at my other forms and sent me through after looking me up and stamping my passport. The longest part is the Delta clearance. Nothing was said to me by the custom border agents other than normal greetings. I am doing quarantine in my home.

brunos

Thanks for the info.

My understanding is that you are doing quarantine at your home, but no one asked you to do it nor gave detailed instructions on what is allowed or not.
Correct?

ATLCDG

Well, I have read the rules and am generally familiar, so I suppose France told me. The Department of Interior did state that we would be given info/instructions on the quarantine, but...you are correct that nothing was said to me or given to me when passing through customs. I cannot speak to what was or wasn't said to others or given to others. I hope that helps. 😎

af fp

Here is a long post I put in the coronavirus forum, moderators feel free to delete it as it is a duplicate and we did not fly AF this time (AA in business was just too cheap to not do it), but I think it will help some readers of this thread:

o here is our experience yesterday, traveling AA LGA-DFW-CDG. One dual US and French citizen, and one US spouse.

At LGA the AA check-in staff was nice but it took them 45 minutes to get clearance for the US spouse, they had to make phone calls to verify it was allowed and to unblock the reservation. They did check our US marriage certificate. They did their best and had a positive attitude. Then no question asked until CDG, we needed three forms each to board the transatlantic flight: reason for travel declaration, health declaration and tracing form.

Arriving in CDG the immigration agent let us in after checking our �livret de famille�, which shows the acknowledgement of our US marriage by the French authorities. The US marriage certificate may have been enough but I did not show it. The three forms we each had to fill and sign were never requested and are still in my bag....

Note we also had a plan to continue onto Austria and scraped it. We had recent virus test certificates so technically I think they would have let us in but the friends we wanted to visit in Vienna were very uncomfortable. They had talked to people around them and everyone told them that their neighbors might complain, that the authorities may force us into quarantine anyway, that they would have to quarantine themselves after our departure, that even with a recent test there was too big a risk we could get contaminated inflight... Given that we did not want them to feel uncomfortable for all that time we just skipped the trip. Interesting case of peer pressure.

Also of note, the first hotel we stayed at in France almost canceled our booking when they saw a US address, and finally after we mentioned having tested they put us in a nice room in a separate building. Not ideal but I understand their concern. We are taking a calculated risk but not everyone has to play along with us.

brunos

Arrived from Hong Kong via LHR (BA) to Nice. No document requested at immigration for anyone with EU passport, no question asked, no mention of quarantine.
BA handed out forms to be filled, but not needed at immigration. A A100% full plane cleared in a few minutes.

San Gottardo

Wasn't the rule of "voluntary quarantaine" limited until July 14th? I remember that in April (or was it May?) the government's original plan was to extend the extraordinary legislation until July 28th, imposing a quarantaine for everybody coming in from outside the EU. Parliament then limited that to July 14th, and the quarantaine was made "voluntary".