Are you looking to travel Europe Union countries? Then the EU Digital Covid Certificate is mandatory to avoid quarantine and to visit public places such as restaurants and musuem. If you are a traveller from outside of Europe, this would be a big challenge to overcome. In this post, I will guide you how you can get your EU Digital Covid Certificate even if you are not a resident of any European country.
Update!
French goverment is no longer issuing EU Digital Covid certificate for free. The service has been delegated to pharmacies in France and it costs EUR 36. You can find more details here: https://www.sante.fr/obtenir-un-passe-sanitaire-en-cas-de-vaccination-letranger
What is EU Digital Covid Certificate?
The EU Digital Covid Certificate, also known as Health Pass, is issued to citizens and residents in EU countries to track the vaccination status. Currently, the European Medical Agency has approved the following vaccines:
- Comirnaty
- Spikevax (previously COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna)
- Vaxzevria (previously COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca)
- COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen
If you are like me – lives outside of Europe and some had another vaccine, the possibilities of getting the EU Digital Certificate is limited.
Fortunately, EU Member States have the freedom to extend the recommendations by European Medical Agency and can accept vaccines that are not yet recognised by European Medical Agency.
France is one of the EU Member State that also accepts WHO approved vaccines. It is also the only country in Europe Union that currently offers EU Digital Covid Certificate or Health Pass for travellers and non-EU residents.
Conditions to get EU Digital Certificate from France
The conditions to get the EU Digital Certificate ( also known as the Health Pass ) from France is pretty straight forward.
- You need to have all the required doses of one of these vaccines:
- Pfizer/Comirnaty
- Moderna
- AstraZeneca/Vaxzevria/Covishield/Fiocruz/R-Covi
- Johnson & Johnson
- Flight tickets to France
Applying for EU Digital Covid Certificate
If you meet the above mentioned conditions, just head on to this website: https://www.demarches-simplifiees.fr/commencer/passe-sanitaire-etrangers?locale=en
You will need to create an account. Once the account is verified using the link received on email, start a new file and enter your official name.
You will find a form like this:
Fill in all the required details.
Once the file is submitted, you will get an email confirming the same.
Fro faster acceptance, it is recommended to submit the file while the it is working hours in France. If you are based in India, the best time to apply is around 12:30 PM. My EU Digital Covid Certificate was accepted within 10 minutes when I applied around that time.
You can check the status on the Files section of the website here: https://www.demarches-simplifiees.fr/dossiers
Once accepted, you will be able to download the EU Digital Covid Certificate in the form of PDF file.
You can print it or save it in your phone. However, I recommend installing the TousAntiCovid app by French government to save the certificate in your phone for easy access.
When you are entering restaurant or musuem you can open the app and show the QR code for them to scan and verify.
You can download the app from here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.gouv.android.stopcovid&hl=en&gl=US
Final Thoughts
Theoretically, once you have the EU Digital Covid Certificate, you should be able to travel all the Schengen countries without any other restrictions. I haven’t tested this out yet.
If the vaccine that you got is approved by WHO, think no further. This is the easiest way to avoid EU Digital Covid Certificate or Health Pass for non-EU residents. I also highly recommend starting your European tour from France! The climate is pretty great in Paris in October and all the major attractions are open as well.
If you have any queries or thoughts regarding your passport application, feel free to ask me in the comments below!