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I'm Belgian, my bf active duty US military, our daughter have dual citizenship, Belgian birth certificate, Birth abroad certificate, US and Belgian passport. I would travel on ESTA, I need to reapply for it since it expired in April. To be short we qualify in the exceptions from the White House proclamation of travel ban.

"Sec. 2. Scope of Suspension and Limitation on Entry. (a) Section 1 of this proclamation shall not apply to: (iii) any alien who is the parent or legal guardian of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, provided that the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident is unmarried and under the age of 21;"

I can't travel to US from Belgium, government forbid travel to USA unless it's for funerals or caring for a dying family member. As I wanna take the less risks, I would like to fly from Paris CDG, France to Dallas, Fort Worth, USA, American Airlines have a straight flight.

American Airlines, United Airlines both told me that since I qualify with the White House proclamation exemptions, I would be able to board, if I bring the birth certificate, my bf passport as well as my daughter passport.

CBP confirmed on the phone that I could go to USA straight.

I called Paris Airport, the French Border Police told me that I would have no issue to board if I qualify, problem the Police officer I got on the line didn't want to send me an email as proof of what he was saying... He didn't want to give me the PAF email either...

I'm stuck here between, booking for 2.100 € of train and plane tickets and get to the airport with my 2 years and 9 months old and not booking a regret it. I'm so scared to be denied boarding and have to crush my daughter's hope of seeing her dad, she is getting excited everytime she see a plane, saying she will go see her dad soon, she is getting excited everytime I pack a small bag, thinking she is going to see her dad.

I really need to find a real answer, does anybody have PAF email address? Is there any way I can be sure to board that plane?

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    I don't know the details, but wouldn't you still be breaking the Belgian travel ban if you transit in France? Have you considered, that if you have a Belgian medical travel insurance and you violate official travel restrictions, that the insurance might not pay if you happen to get ill (not just corona) in the US? Aug 17, 2020 at 11:09
  • I'm not gonna lie, I didn't think about this but honestly, I'm willing to take a chance, I haven't seen my bf since January 1st and my daughter cry every day about it. She is covered by Military insurance by her dad. At this point it's all that matter to me, I'm tired of my own country who doesn't recognize the right to have both parents to a child...
    – Shawty
    Aug 17, 2020 at 14:41
  • See travel.stackexchange.com/questions/153471/… but they are unlikely to answer IMHO (or care).
    – Relaxed
    Aug 17, 2020 at 17:42
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    How happy is your child going to be spending 4 weeks in isolation, as that is what is going to be required for this trip. Upon arriving it the US you will need to self-isolate for 2 weeks. When you return to Belgium you will need to quarantine for 2 weeks.
    – Doc
    Aug 17, 2020 at 19:36
  • At Doc, the 2 weeks quarantine in USA will be with her dad, as the army is giving him 2 weeks of leave to quarantine with us. Also, we been confined for weeks in Belgium and my daughter and I just spend quality time together at home, I know she will be happy to spend time with her dad. Also all of this isn't answering my question.
    – Shawty
    Aug 18, 2020 at 2:17

1 Answer 1

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IMHO, the PAF (Police aux Frontières) will most likely not care at all on the way out, it is not their responsibility.

The only thing they care about are things that are related to France, the Schengen Area or the EU, such as non-Schengen nationals who overstayed or some other way did not meet the terms of their visa, people who are wanted by the police, people trying to leave with a child without the other parent's permission, people trying to join some jihadist group, and even then often only for French nationals... None of that is of concern to you. As far as I know, there are no Covid-19-related restrictions for leaving France, the Schengen Area, or the EU, only restrictions on entry (which includes transit).

They do not care about whether you'll be able to enter the US or what the conditions for that are. The only people who will check if you are allowed into the US are the US CBP on arrival and the airline at check-in and/or boarding. In theory, you are covered by the exemptions in the travel ban and an ESTA should be enough, but there have been several discussions which indicate that the CBP may sometime make things difficult. Some US embassies recommend you contacting them before travelling, while other advice includes getting an actually visa.

Note however that if the Belgian government actually forbids you from going to the US, you going directly or through France most likely won't change things.

Of course, if you go, I strongly recommend you make sure all your tickets are refundable or at least exchangeable. Rules can change very quickly, as people travelling from Spain, France or Netherlands to the UK have learned. Travel insurance is probably a good idea as well, but double-check their terms and exclusions, they are probably trying to avoid paying out as much as they can for all the Covid-19-related issues.

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  • Refundable and flex tickets typically make no sense these days since it's prohibitively expensive. For AA CDG<->DFW the flex ticket is $2700 vs $1200 for a normal ticket. Due to Covid AA is waiving change fees any way so there is NO benefit for the Flex tickets and it's baffling what they charge $1500 extra for
    – Hilmar
    Aug 17, 2020 at 12:35
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    @Hilmar Note that for some airlines, even if all tickets suddenly became exchangeable (though not refundable), you sometimes need to go through customer service to make the change (rather than being able to do it online), and with customer service being virtually unreachable for many of them...
    – jcaron
    Aug 17, 2020 at 12:41

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