This briefing describes the eligibility to vote in UK Parliament elections for British citizens living overseas.
Overseas voters (558 KB , PDF)
British citizens living overseas are entitled to be registered to vote in elections to the UK Parliament. They are known as overseas voters or overseas electors. Overseas voters cannot vote in local elections or elections to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments or the Northern Ireland Assembly.
From January 2024, the rules on eligibility to register as an overseas voter changed.
The previous rule that someone could only register as an overseas voter for 15 years after they left the UK was abolished. This was a manifesto commitment from the Conservative Party under its ‘votes for life’ policy.
The Labour Party favoured keeping the 15-year rule.
Any British citizen living overseas can register to vote as an overseas voter if:
Overseas voters must apply to register in the local authority of the last UK address where they were registered to vote or were resident.
Overseas voters registering in England, Wales and Scotland can apply to vote online in the usual way, or with a paper form; overseas voters registering in Northern Ireland must fill in a paper form.
Applications must be verified, and electoral registration officers can ask for additional documentary evidence to confirm a connection with a previous address.
Providing false information is an offence.
Registration is valid for three years and overseas voters will be sent a reminder that their registration needs renewing.
The total number of overseas voters registered for the 2024 general election was 191,338.
Until 2015, the number of overseas voters registered to vote had never risen above 35,000. However, the number increased after 2015, when there was an overseas voter registration campaign in the run up to the 2015 general election and interest in the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union.
At the 2017 general election, a record 285,000 overseas voters were registered (see section 3). At the time, the government estimated that this was about 20% of eligible expats under the 15-year limit.
At the December 2019 general election, 233,000 overseas voters were registered. This declined to 105,000 in December 2021, as overseas voter numbers tend to decline between elections. Many voters do not renew their registrations in years when no election is expected.
After ending the 15-year limit and allowing all British citizens previously resident to register to vote, the government estimated that around 3.5 million British nationals living overseas would be eligible to register to vote (PDF).
Since 2015, the Electoral Commission has highlighted the difficulties faced by overseas voters wanting to vote in general elections.
The commission has said options for overseas voters do not work well enough. There is not enough time for many overseas voters to receive and return a postal vote in time for it to be counted. Additionally, some overseas voters do not know anyone in the UK who they can appoint as a proxy to vote on their behalf instead of relying on postal voting.
The Electoral Commission has recommended that the government should review and reform the administration of overseas voting.
Overseas voters (558 KB , PDF)
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