50% expats unaware to register online

The Connexion has carried numerous articles on this topic so we find it hard to believe that this is the case of British expats in France. However, if you are British and live in France (or anywhere else), are not registered and would like to be – we explain below what to do.

We recommend you register before Monday May 16, especially if you wish to make use of a postal vote (rather than a proxy vote). This is to allow plenty of time for ballots to be sent out. June 7 is the official deadline for choosing a proxy vote – a person in the UK who can vote for you in your old constituency. This does not need to be a relative.

You cannot vote if you have been out of the UK for 15 years or more.

This 15-year ban has been contested and we are still waiting for the results of an appeal. The Conservative Party promised during the 2015 election that the law would be changed to allow expats to keep their vote after 15 years, however it has not done so before the referendum. The UK is one of the few EU countries to ban expats from national votes after a certain time out of the country.

How to register

You can do this online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

It takes five minutes and you need your passport number and National Insurance number.

There is no need to have a current UK home, however you do need to have been a registered elector before leaving the UK.

Remember that you must also complete a second step of choosing a postal or proxy vote and you do not have to wait for your registration to be confirmed before applying for this.

Click here for a copy of the proxy vote application form

Click here for a copy of the postal vote application form

It is possible to scan and email these back to councils; otherwise you will have to post your form to them. If emailing them, all parts of the form must be visible, and the signature must be clear.

Please note that the postal vote form is a standard one also used by people in the UK. Where it says to insert your ‘full UK address’, the Electoral Commission says you should put in your last UK address where you were registered, even if you no longer have any connection with it. Registering by post, as opposed to internet, is also possible (the form is here) however this may result in additional delay.

Important note

If you registered to vote in the general election last year, do NOT presume you are still registered. You may have come off the register unless you have recently filled out a renewal form. If in doubt check with the elections office for the constituency where you were last registered. You can find out where that is here.

The effect on British expats in France of any potential vote to leave the EU is unknown. Should it happen - and the government decides to act on the vote - the UK would enter into negotiations whether with the EU as a whole or with individual countries for the rights of people living there and those who later move there.

We will be covering the referendum and possibilities of a Brexit in our June issue.

It may result in little change – or it could mean significant changes to the formalities and rights of people living there. There would be a time period of two years for negotiations with the EU as a whole – it can be extended but only with a unanimous vote to do so.

*The UK’s Electoral Commission polled some 4,700 expats in a partnership with expat website AngloInfo, in a survey which was distributed mainly to people in Europe. Out of people who had been away 15 years or less, 20% thought you could not register online and 30% did not know if you could do or not.