French residents advised against travel to UK following new rules

The French government has today issued advice against travel to the UK, a change likely to affect the validity of some travel insurance policies.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry's Conseils aux voyageurs (travel advice) website for the UK now states: Compte tenu de la diffusion rapide du variant Omicron au Royaume-Uni, les voyageurs qui avaient prévu de s’y rendre sont appelés à reporter leur voyage ("bearing in mind the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the UK, we are calling on travellers who had been planning to go there, to put off their journey").

The Connexion first noted the 'call' not to travel to the UK in an update on the website of the French consulate in London.

It came as the French government confirmed new travel restrictions on UK visitors to France, effectively banning people from entering the country for tourism or work purposes from Saturday (December 18).

Read more: New UK-France restrictions: No tourist visits and quarantine announced

As it explained the new rules, the consulate website also added wording about delaying trips.

This statement can also be found in the French government press release on the latest series of restrictions.

The subsequent addition of the wording on the ministry's travel advice pages further confirms the advice against travel to the UK, meaning it could affect the insurance cover of people who do choose nonetheless to travel from France to the UK.

The advice falls short of a legal travel ban, but it could lead to some cancellations of flights or other travel if many people change their plans.

The Connexion has contacted the French consulate and Foreign Affairs Ministry for further information.

France’s new UK travel rules will also tighten the time frame in which people can take pre-departure PCR or antigen tests from 48 to 24 hours, and will require arrivals in France to self-isolate for seven days in a place of their choosing.

This quarantine period can be shortened if the person in question is able to present a negative antigen or PCR result from a test taken after their arrival in the country.

Article updated 14.30 Thursday December 16, after addition of information on travel advice pages

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