dmu

If I remember rightly, during the Spring lockdown, UK or other EU residents were allowed to return to their countries of residence, in the same way as French citizens or residents could return to France.
I imagine that the "déplacement pour motif familial impérieux" on the Attestation would suffice, unless a special Attestation has been created for international overland travel. In any case, you'll be travelling away from France (proved by your Channel-crossing tickets) - the Gendarmerie would be more likely to wish you a happy journey and concentrate on checking the purpose of travellers coming into France.
This coming weekend is somewhat special, being the end of the school holidays, and many families also travel to distant cemeteries for the 1st November, which is why the Govt. will be more lenient.
But go and ask at the Mairie or Gendarmerie, to give you peace of mind....
HTH

Nand

Yesterday morning we got an advisory email letter from Canada's embassy, my husband is Canadian, letting us know in both french and english all the necessary information about this French lock down including a printable attestation form. They also warned us severly about the real,possibility of terrorism after the announcements of PM Macron about the beheading of the teacher which had reverberated in most Muslim countries causing a lot of disent and resentment toward France and the possibility of retaliation especially as was seen in the Nice Cathedral deaths this week.

If it weren't for the Canadians I would be lost finding out about all these French problems, legalities and obligations.

Sure enough police were patroling around our city as my husband went to unlock our vehicle from the garage two streets over to give the battery and engine a warm up drive before putting it back to sleep for a month, but only within one kilometer from our home. Fortunately he had printed out and filled in the Attestation form, which they didn't even stop to ask him about. Still, one feels much less stressful when all these little things are attended to.

Vesna

Thank you DMU for your kind reply, we will try to see someone at the local mairie to find out more and watch out for any new travel forms after this weekend. 👍 🤞

dmu

Seriously?
How do non-French expats who don't have Canadian spouses manage to keep up with the news? If they don't speak French, they can read the up-to-date info and details on important, and little, things, on Forums like this one.
For example, you can take your car to go shopping or for medical treatment, so no need for it to be shut up for the duration. Unless they live in a city, not many people (I, for one) have adequate food shops or pharmacies within 1 km of their domicile and the Attestation provides for that. My Attestations were never checked the last time (nor yesterday when I drove 5 km for a physio session and shopping), but the fine is offputting if by chance you are caught without one.
HTH

KJMW

If anyone can help with some information or links I would be obliged: My wife has booked (before this latest confinement) a flight from Biarritz to Paris on the 12 November then travel from the airport to the Finnish Embassy in Paris the same day. She has to get her passport renewed at the embassy. We can't find anywhere if she is allowed to take the flight, the airline isn't forthcoming at all. Slightly problematical is also that the airport (Biarritz) is about 20 k from our house. Does that mean I can't take her to the airport or collect her should she be able to travel in the first place! She will stay at an airport hotel and take a flight home the next day; we hope!!!

dmu

Her situation would come under "Convocation judiciaire ou administrative et pour se rendre dans un service public" on the Attestation.
Your "taxiing" her to and from the airport should come under "déplacements pour motif familial impérieux".
But I'd be inclined to ask at the Gendarmerie and/or the Mairie well beforehand, to make sure....
She must be aware that the airport hotel will probably only be able to offer room-service meals, and that no restaurants will be open in Paris....
HTH
P.S. I would also contact the Embassy, to make sure that it's open on the day of the appointment!

EuroTrash

Have you checked with the embassy whether they will be still be open for passport renewals and are expecting appointments to go ahead as planned?
That might be the first thing to try. Presumably the embassies themselves will have found out the answer to whether people are permitted to travel to keep their appointments or not.

Sorry dmu, posts crossed.

KJMW

Thanks for that, I appreciate it.

KJMW

Yes, the embassy is still open.

scrubbedexpat056

I thought our biggest problem in coming home to France, anticipating that there would be a lockdown, would be the availability of flights or ferries and whether to get a covid test before or at the point of entry. It turns out that having announced the lockdown, the UK government's own website says that international travel will only be allowed out of UK for work or a few exceptions without listing what they are. No amount of research has brought up this list of exemptions and whether they include going home to our primary residence. If I can't get information from the UK government on its own regulations where do I go?
Sorry, rant over. Unless any of you can point me to definitive information either way.

EuroTrash

It would be extraordinary if people aren't allowed to travel to go back to their home country.
Being as how Johnson's press conference was delayed for over two hours due to the Cabinet being unable to reach an agreement (I did see a rumour that the delay was because Johnson wanted to quit but I find that hard to believe, much as I would like to) ,I guess the issue is that as usual all they have is a bare bones plan. Presumably it was all they could do to settle for a one month lockdown, argue about furlough, argue what should be allowed to open, and put together an announcement. They have not got round to considering less ordinary situations that people need answers on..
I guess you will just have to be patient for now and hope they publish proper guidelines by Thursday when the lockdown starts. When were you planning to travel?.

scrubbedexpat056

Around the 18th November. Assuming anyone is flying and there is no more information by the time we book the tickets we could just risk being stopped, but then claiming back the costs of the tickets should we fail would be a pain. I doubt any airline is going to check why we are traveling before selling us a ticket. We could reluctantly hang on until 2nd December for the lockdown to end, but then just as in the first French lockdown, I imagine it will be extended because the government won't want to impose a 2 month lockdown from the start. I suspect we will never get a specific answer to our question and simply go or not.

EuroTrash

Thinking about it, as I understand it these things have to be debated by Parliament now don't they? so probably that has to happen before specific rules and conditions can be fixed?
If it were me, I would probably go no matter what. I can't see an airline making any difficulty about a French resident going back home. Though there may be flight cancellations if they rationalise their flight schedules.

EDIT Here's another question.
If I was in Wales, where the circuit breaker will end next weekend and I would be;free to travel, would I be allowed to travel through England to get to the Tunnel?
There's another question I bet there is no answer to..

Chatter Static

Travel between England and Wales is scrutinized/Policed to some degree.

Ultimately if you're returning to your primary residence in France then it shouldn't be a problem unless you happen to be in an English registered vehicle in your name. That might throw up some doubt as to the justification of the journey.

Helen1964

As long as you have proof that you’re a French resident there shouldn’t be a problem.
I was in N Ireland last time the French declared a lockdown and I really needed to get back to France for work and also to rejoin my husband. I just kept my titre de séjour handy in case I encountered any problems leaving the UK or entering France. I was quite stressed about it all at the time but in the event it was fine. Just go for it.