Voting from abroad or overseas

Voting if you registered as an overseas voter

To apply to vote from abroad or overseas, you must first be registered to vote. You will need to register to vote 12 working days before polling day.

You can vote from abroad, if:

You will be abroad temporarily

If you will be abroad temporarily on election day, you can vote by post or proxy. You will need to make the arrangements in advance.

You will have to apply to vote by proxy if the election or referendum is less that 2 weeks away and you have not made arrangements yet.

If you chose to apply to vote by post, your postal ballot will be sent to the address you have chosen no earlier than 16 days before the election. You need to return the ballot before 10pm on polling day.

You are moving or live abroad

You can register as an overseas voter if you:

are a British or eligible Irish citizen
were registered to vote in the UK within the last 15 years (or if you were too young to have registered when you left the UK)

You must register to vote in the normal way. You must renew your registration every year. You will get a reminder when it is time to renew.

If you do not renew your registration, you will be removed from the register and will have to register to vote again.