Well Northern France was occupied by Nazi Germany by the summer of 1940. France had bowed out of the war, and was now a neutral country under control of the puppet Vichy Regime (which still had to in a sense obey German orders and regulations stipulated in the Second Compiègne Armistice). French citizens could not travel across the English Chanel to England after the German Wehrmacht took control and occupied Norther and Western France. However, French citizens could theoretically travel to the unoccupied zones in Vichy France (Southern France). The Vichy French Regime was the continuation of the French Third Republic, in the legal sense. One of the articles in the Second Compiègne Armistice (the surrender of France) stipulated that all of France's Imperial colonies and territories would remain free and unoccupied, and administered and governed by the Vichy Regime. However, the Vichy Regime had to adhere to the armistice and had to do Germany's biding, in order to retain some semblance of sovereignty. One of the agreences was that France was now out of the war, and was to remain Neutral (although Axis leaning - not by choice).

So while French citizens running afoul of the Nazis, or just trying to escape France, could not flee to England (without running the risk of being arrested by German or French authorities, or running in to the Germany Navy while in the Channel), they could get permits to travel to French colonies and territories. The closest were French Morocco and French Algeria.

Many French and other foreign citizens (who were in France when it was invaded by the Germans) managed to flee to Morocco and Algeria - and stayed there while they formulated plans to escape to Allied countries. Places like Casablanca, and Oran became temporary safe havens for refugees running from the Nazis!

The famous movie "Casablanca" actually does a great job at simplifying and summarizing the contemporary French / Vichy French problems of the day. So from June 1940 to November 1942 French citizens could travel to Vichy French territories and colonies (with proper paperwork and permits), and from there either hide out or try to flee to Allied territory.

However, in November 1942 the Allies commenced Operation Torch, the invasion of Western North Africa. Most of the landing areas were under French imperial control. However, there had been secret diplomatic talks with US Diplomats and high ranking French Military personnel before the invasions. Basically the French would put up extremely light and token resistance at first, and then surrender in mass to the Americans. Thus, trying to save face and show some honor, but show their true intentions of siding with the Allies. There was some resistance but not much, except for some loyal Vichy imperial units. The British fared slightly worse, because the British and Vichy French had been in a sort of proxy war in Africa, the Middle East and Asia for the past two years.* So the French had hard feelings towards the British, but none towards the Americans.

The Americans land, the French lay down their arms. Some remain loyal to the Vichy Regime and fight on, but the vast majority are taken prisoner with no resistance, some even wanting to fight with American units. This royally pissed off Nazi Germany. The Germans realized that although the Vichy Government may be on their side, the Military was not! So the Germans invaded the unoccupied zones of southern France, making up Vichy France.

In November 1942 France lost any semblance and illusion of sovereignty. The Germans obviously could not control all of France's imperial colonies and territories, but they could try to push the Allies out of Western North Africa (they had been fighting the British and Commonwealth Forces in Libya and Egypt for over a year at this point, but now they had to contend with forces in Algeria).

Vichy France was now 100% occupied. The Germans tightened restrictions of civilian life. So for the French living in occupied France escape became much harder after November 1942. From the period of November 1942 to the liberation of most of France in the summer of 1944, French citizens were extremely restricted as to where they could go. Before November 1942 French citizens could escape France to Morocco or Algeria and directly from there try to get to an Allied or Neutral Nation (oftentimes via other neutral countries like Portugal). But after the full occupation and control of France, it was virtually impossible to escape. The window for escape was now slammed shut!

For further reading, read:

"England's Last War Against France: Fighting Vichy 1940-1942" by Colin Smith

**"An Army at Dawn"**by Rick Atkinson

and for a good first person narrative of the diplomatic and military effort after American invasion of Algeria read "Drive" by Colonel Charles R. Codman (General George Patton's aide-de-camp).

"Casablanca" even though a Hollywood film, it does show a glimpse of what life was like for French nationals and foreign emigres trying to flee the Nazis, and ended up in North Africa.

Edit: The UK and Commonwealth were sort of at war with France from the summer of 1940 until the invasion of French North Africa in November 1942. Basically after France surrendered in June 1940 a lot of the forces that had fled to England were basically interned in camps. The British didn't know what to do with their former Allies. A lot of these Frenchmen would later make up the backbone of the Free French military. However, in the mean time England did not want the French military to basically be turned against them - specifically the French Navy. The French Navy fled to Algeria to avoid direct capture or battle with the German Navy. The Vichy French Regime was told by the British to surrender their Navy to the British, scuttle their Navy, or risk being attacked. The British did not want the French Navy to fall in to German and Italian hands and end up being used against them. The French refused to surrender their Navy, so the Royal Navy attacked the Vichy French Navy at port in Algeria. The French Navy was there was crippled. The British won - but for their part had essentially commenced hostilities with the Vichy French.

This proxy war would be played out mostly in sub-Saharan Africa (where Britain and France controlled most of the continent) and the Middle East. For example the British invaded the island of Madagascar and fought a bitter battle against the Vichy regime there. The British also invaded Dakar, Senegal and fought against the Imperial French there. Some minor scuffles around Palestine ensued etc... Now the British also had help from Free French forces, that refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of Vichy France, and often times Imperial and Vichy French forces switched sides and joined the Free French - but oftentimes Free French and Vichy / Imperial French forces clashes and fought against one another. So French citizens also had to contend with the fact although they may have 100% supported the Allied Cause, their government was sort of at war with British! Thus making things complex.