People who live or work abroad
If you are a British citizen or Crown Servant living abroad, you can register as an overseas elector.
This allows you to vote in general elections, referendums and European elections in the constituency you last lived in, for 15 years from when you registered.
You cannot vote in local elections.
When registering, you will need your National Insurance Number, the address at which you were last registered in the UK (known as your qualifying address) and you may need your passport number.
Your name does not appear against your qualifying address on the electoral register. Overseas electors names are listed at the back of the register under the section 'Other electors'.
Once registered as an overseas elector, you will need to remember to apply for an absent vote if you are likely to be overseas on polling day.
If you want to vote from overseas you have two options:
- vote by proxy - this is where you appoint a person to vote on your behalf at the polling station linked to your qualifying address. If they don't live near your qualifying address, once appointed, they can apply for a postal proxy vote.
- vote by post - we can send postal votes overseas. However, depending on where you live, it may take too long for your postal ballot to be sent back to us before it needs to be counted. If you think this applies to you, please apply for a proxy vote instead.