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Register to vote if you're living abroad - paper form

If you're a British citizen living abroad, you can apply to be an overseas voter.

Updates to this page

From:
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, The Electoral Commission and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Published:
29 April 2015
Last updated:
16 January 2024
Show all updates

  1. Page updated to include a link to the Register to vote service and remove details about electors who were registered to vote as a resident in the UK in the last 15 years, or were too young to register. The law has changed to remove the 15-year rule. All eligibility information can now be found on the start page of the Register to vote service.

  2. Form 'Register to vote as an overseas voter (originally resident of Scotland)' updated.

  3. attachments updated

  4. Previous PDFs have been replaced with new PDFs containing updated wording relating to the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws.

  5. First published.

Documents

Voter registration form for a British citizen living overseas

PDF, 219 KB, 7 pages

Voter registration form for a British citizen living overseas who had no fixed or permanent previous UK address

PDF, 201 KB, 6 pages

Details

You can register as an overseas voter if you’ve previously lived in the UK and are either:

  • a British citizen
  • an eligible Irish citizen registering to vote in Northern Ireland

If you want to vote in England, Scotland or Wales, you can register to vote in the normal way. Alternatively you can fill out this voter registration paper form.

If you want to vote in Northern Ireland, you need to register with a paper form.

There are different arrangements if you’re going to be abroad temporarily on election day.

Renewing your registration

Your registration lasts up to 3 years. You’ll get a reminder when it’s time to renew.

If you do not renew your registration, you’ll be removed from the register and must make a fresh application in order to vote again.

Voting if you’re registered as an overseas voter

You can vote in UK Parliament elections.

You may be able to vote in referendums. Each referendum has different rules on who can vote in it.

If you’re registered in England, Scotland or Wales

You can decide whether you want to vote by proxy (if you’re eligible) or vote by post:

If you’re registered in Northern Ireland 

You can vote by proxy, if you’re eligible. You need to apply using a paper form.

You cannot vote by post.

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