France to reinstate checks at its Schengen borders from November

France has notified the EU that it intends to reinstate checks at the Schengen borders with its neighbours, bringing in the possibility of border delays as extra checks are carried out.

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Following in the footsteps of Germany which reinstated checks last month, France has announced that it intends to bring back police checks at the borders with its six Schengen zone neighbours – Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Italy.
The enhanced checks will be reinstated from Friday, November 1st and will run for a six-month period, although it will be possible to renew from April 1st.
Interior minister Bruno Retailleau has served formal notice to the European Commission and says that the checks are coming back because of “serious threats to public order and domestic security posed by high-level terrorist activities, the growing presence of criminal networks facilitating irregular migration and trafficking, and migratory flows that risk being infiltrated by radicalised individuals.”
Retailleau, a hard-line right-winger who also wants to introduce tough new controls on immigration into France, championed the return of border checks while on a visit with prime minister Michel Barnier to the town of Menton, close to the Italian border, on Friday.
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Although France has frequently imposed temporary checks at a certain border for security reasons – especially since the 2025 terror attacks – or during the Covid pandemic, this will be the first time that widespread checks on all its borders have been imposed since the creation of the Schengen zone in 1995.
Since 2011 several countries have imposed extra controls on their Schengen borders due to fears over clandestine migration.
What does this mean for travellers?
At present people travelling between France and a Schengen zone country usually face no checks at all, although sporadic checks do happen.
The new generalisation of checks concerns all modes of transport – air, sea or land, although in other European countries who have reintroduced checks, police presence has been concentrated on people crossing the border by car or bus.

It seems likely that, for practical reasons, the checks will be conducted sporadically, rather than for every traveller – and the EU specifies that although a country may reintroduce checks if it feels this is necessary, the checks must be “proportionate and limited to the minimum time necessary to ensure safety”.
Since Germany reintroduced border checks there have been reports of traffic jams at the border, even though not every car has been checked.
There are also concerns about how the checks will affect cross-border workers since a large number of people live close to the borders with Switzerland or Luxembourg and commute across the border to work each day.
Luxembourg prime minister Luc Frieden told RTL news that he had been in discussion with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz and said he had “clearly said that this is not a good idea”.
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Passport rules
The reintroduction of checks does not actually change the rules on passports.
When travelling within the Schengen zone, all travellers must have either an ID card issued by an EU country, or a passport.
In France, ID cards are issued only to French citizens, so foreigners living here will need either the ID card of an EU country (if they are an EU citizen) or a passport in order to travel. Other forms of French paperwork such as a carte de séjour or a driving licence are not acceptable travel documents.
Non-EU citizens living in France should show both their passport and carte de séjour on entering or leaving France, in order to avoid getting their passport stamped.
These rules have always been in place, but are often forgotten because of the light-touch of checks at Schengen zone borders – until now.
Explained: The rules of travelling in the Schengen zone for French residents

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Comments (1)

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S. Sturman

2024/10/21 18:24

Not directly related, but can you tell us if we need to renew PARAFE if we renew our passports? I have recently renewed my Italian passport and am living in France, with frequent international travel. I haven’t been abole to find information on the France.gouv site. Does PARAFE automatically transfer over?

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Following in the footsteps of Germany which reinstated checks last month, France has announced that it intends to bring back police checks at the borders with its six Schengen zone neighbours – Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Italy.
The enhanced checks will be reinstated from Friday, November 1st and will run for a six-month period, although it will be possible to renew from April 1st.
Interior minister Bruno Retailleau has served formal notice to the European Commission and says that the checks are coming back because of “serious threats to public order and domestic security posed by high-level terrorist activities, the growing presence of criminal networks facilitating irregular migration and trafficking, and migratory flows that risk being infiltrated by radicalised individuals.”
Retailleau, a hard-line right-winger who also wants to introduce tough new controls on immigration into France, championed the return of border checks while on a visit with prime minister Michel Barnier to the town of Menton, close to the Italian border, on Friday.
Although France has frequently imposed temporary checks at a certain border for security reasons – especially since the 2025 terror attacks – or during the Covid pandemic, this will be the first time that widespread checks on all its borders have been imposed since the creation of the Schengen zone in 1995.
Since 2011 several countries have imposed extra controls on their Schengen borders due to fears over clandestine migration.
What does this mean for travellers?
At present people travelling between France and a Schengen zone country usually face no checks at all, although sporadic checks do happen.
The new generalisation of checks concerns all modes of transport – air, sea or land, although in other European countries who have reintroduced checks, police presence has been concentrated on people crossing the border by car or bus.
It seems likely that, for practical reasons, the checks will be conducted sporadically, rather than for every traveller – and the EU specifies that although a country may reintroduce checks if it feels this is necessary, the checks must be “proportionate and limited to the minimum time necessary to ensure safety”.
Since Germany reintroduced border checks there have been reports of traffic jams at the border, even though not every car has been checked.
There are also concerns about how the checks will affect cross-border workers since a large number of people live close to the borders with Switzerland or Luxembourg and commute across the border to work each day.
Luxembourg prime minister Luc Frieden told RTL news that he had been in discussion with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz and said he had “clearly said that this is not a good idea”.
Passport rules
The reintroduction of checks does not actually change the rules on passports.
When travelling within the Schengen zone, all travellers must have either an ID card issued by an EU country, or a passport.
In France, ID cards are issued only to French citizens, so foreigners living here will need either the ID card of an EU country (if they are an EU citizen) or a passport in order to travel. Other forms of French paperwork such as a carte de séjour or a driving licence are not acceptable travel documents.
Non-EU citizens living in France should show both their passport and carte de séjour on entering or leaving France, in order to avoid getting their passport stamped.
These rules have always been in place, but are often forgotten because of the light-touch of checks at Schengen zone borders – until now.
Explained: The rules of travelling in the Schengen zone for French residents