France & ‘self administered tests’

[Pearlyqueen21]

Anyone been to France recently? I’m tying myself in knots trying to work out what my 13 yr old (unvaccinated) daughter will need to do to enter France! We’re vaccinated. She just needs to do PCR or antigen test 24 hrs pre-travel, but tucked away on the French embassy website it says “Self administered tests are not accepted for travel’. Does this mean we have to find somewhere to get her tested by a clinic? The government (Fr) website doesn’t seem to mention this stipulation.

I’d be really interested to hear if anyone had this checked on their way into France. I’m quite happy to drive to the airport the day before we travel to get an expensive test done just to be sure, but DD will be beside herself having a stranger do a test on her :( I’d like to avoid putting her through that if possible. Or do they just watch you do it yourself?

I suspect that just means you can't use an NHS home test. We travelled to France last week and my 13 yr old DS used this self-administered, but officially certified, home test: www.c19testing.co.uk/rapidtravel/

DS, DH and I used the same tests to travel home. No issues.

We went to France over the summer
We did a PCR test with a guaranteed 4 hour result time because of the 24 hour rule
I think with self administered they mean an NHS lateral flow test which they won’t accept
You need email confirmation or letter to prove the negative result

@rubyslippers

We went to France over the summer We did a PCR test with a guaranteed 4 hour result time because of the 24 hour rule I think with self administered they mean an NHS lateral flow test which they won’t accept You need email confirmation or letter to prove the negative result

We - I mean my fifteen year old We didn’t have to as we’re double vacced

Yes it has to be a private pcr or lft administered by a nurse and you have to show the certificate at the entry border.

@bagelsandlox

I suspect that just means you can't use an NHS home test. We travelled to France last week and my 13 yr old DS used this self-administered, but officially certified, home test: www.c19testing.co.uk/rapidtravel/

DS, DH and I used the same tests to travel home. No issues.

We travelled back end of August using same tests without any issues

Thanks all, really helpful. I’m encouraged by the experiences of those using c19 ones, which were top of my list.

Don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but getting tested before you go to France may be the least of your problems. I've just discovered that from 1st Oct in order to go into restaurants, museums, take a train and pretty much anything else in France, EVERYONE over 12 needs a Pass Sanitaire. For vaccinated adults this is easy as you can upload your vaccination status to your nhs pass. For over 12s this is a nightmare as they need either (from the BBC website):

a vaccination certificate, illustrating that you are fully vaccinated (the French government will accept proof from UK travellers through the NHS App, by downloading or printing the document, or by presenting an NHS letter)
a negative PCR/antigen test result from the past 48 hours
a document (dated more than 11 days ago and less than six months ago) proving you have recently recovered from Covid.

Obvs most 12-17 yr olds (ie my children) aren't fully vaxxed (by which they mean twice), and I can't for the life of me work out whether they can upload a self administered lateral flow (of which we have heaps) to show a negative test result, or if we need to get it done officially (and therefore time-consumingly and expensively) every other day that we are there (5 days). I expect the latter. I anticipate another holiday cancelled. Sigh. Anyone got a clue?

I’m afraid you will have to organize tests for 12-17 year olds - auto tests need to be supervised by a professional to count for the pass sanitaire so just as easy to get it done for you.

Some chemists and laboratories (which do routine blood tests etc) do walk-ins but you can also book in advance via Doctolib.fr. I think it is about 29 euro for tourists.

Thanks for letting me know. Still sounds like a right faff so I think we'll be going elsewhere at half term, if we go anywhere at all. Wish the UK would get on with vaccinating the secondary school pupils like the rest of Europe.