To Think expats shouldn't be able to vote in the EU referendum?

[Snowflakes1122]

Am I right? Those expats living abroad less than 15 years have a right to vote in the EU referendum?!

They decide to get out, then want to decide fate of those who stay behind and actually live here? AIBU to think they should duck off as it doesn't have anything to do with them since they left?

JassyRadlett I have lived in the UK for over 16 years feel that I have contributed a lot to the UK whether by paying taxes or otherwise. This is my home and it does irk me that I have no say in the matter.

Don't know about he expats but why does everybody from the commonwealth have the right to vote in the ref that is something I don't get.

YES, YABU. It has a lot to do with me. I'm an expat. I haven't abandoned my country or "got out" I'm just enjoying my right to free movement in Europe, to learn another language and broaden my horizons. You have the same rights, I'm no less British than you are. If someone wanted to remove a right you'd been given and made good use of, you'd want a say in it.

My rights to have my children on state healthcare, my right to open a business, etc will be affected. I am paying into a pension here, which will be added on to my UK state pension, where I will be returning. In the event of a brexit, my pension will most likely be affected. My child is a UK citizen, I want to vote for his future as a Brit as well as my own as an expat. And my entire UK based family.

And this isn't about voting for the next 5 years, in which case you could argue I wont be there to feel the effects. It is a long term change, and, I (and many others) will be back to feel the effects.

Lots of expats are exercising the rights that they are afforded thanks to the EU. Of course, these people should get a chance to defend these rights.

There was a guy on TV last night who was living in Spain and said he would be voting in as it is good for him where he is but if he lived in the UK he would vote out. That pisses me off.

I don't get why people resident here but are commonwealth passport holders get a vote whilst resident EU people don't. Both have vested interests in the UK and its future.

THATS nonsensical.

Thanks Sandpit, I applied for the proxy this time round but as it was the first time, I had to sign it. No way of getting it to me to sign without a courier costing £60+.

Home later in the year so will organise it then for future.

Great post Zorion

I'm more annoyed that EU citizens paying taxes/owning properties/schooling children/contributing to the betterment of the U.K. aren't getting a vote.

They do if they've become British citizens. If they haven't, then WHY ON EARTH would they get a vote?! Our democracy is a right reserved exclusively for our own citizens. I can see absolutely no reason whatsoever why we would offer votes to people who are not legal citizens, and I really don't understand why ANYONE would question that.

JamieVardy I had the same problem but they told me to sign then scan and send.

It certainly will impact on Brits living in the EU - possibly more than those living in the UK. YABU.

AIBU to think that people who cba to use opportunities afforded to them by EU membership and prefer just to sit at home and whinge about how terrible everything is without getting off their bottom and moving somewhere they might be happier/ can get a better job/ afford a better home/ have a pleasanter quality of life/ take the strain of the UK infrastructure by using another EU country's health care and other facilities shouldn't be allowed to vote in the EU referendum? Of course I am if I think that - as are you.

YABVU. Of course they should have a vote.

There's not a whole lot of logic to it, imo.

I'm a dual EU and non-EU passport holder, and a Commonwealth citizen. I get to vote because Britain had the good grace to colonise bits of Africa several centuries ago, but the fact that I pay tax at the higher rate and have lived here nearly a decade as an EU national counts for nothing.

Life, I actually agree with you - I just suspect it wouldn't suit the OP.

(I'm a non-EU immigrant who does get to vote, which is a sign of just how ridiculously inconsistent and unfair the system is.)

JassyRadlett I have lived in the UK for over 16 years feel that I have contributed a lot to the UK whether by paying taxes or otherwise. This is my home and it does irk me that I have no say in the matter.

Then apply for citizenship. Otherwise, your argument reminds me of cohabiting couples who want the same rights as married couples. There's a way to legally get those rights.

YABVU

Basically agree with every word Zorion said.

Many of us don't get a vote at all, despite being British citizens and the referendum potentially having significant implications for our future right to live and work in our host countries.

Sideorderofchip - are you even allowed to vote? I'm on a similar small rock to yours but quite a bit further north. Despite being resident for only 10 years (I am from here but lived across for a while) I can't vote. I'm not allowed to.

It is frustrating because the result will affect us & I would like to have a say.

I thought EU immigrants did get a vote (they do get a vote in local and European elections, but not the General election). Only discovered a few days ago that they don't, although Commonwealth citizens do.

I would imagine that any rules around whether you can stay in an EU country will have the date of the referendum as a cut-off. So if you already live in the UK and are say from Germany - or vice versa, that's fine. But if you move after the date of the referendum you'll probably have to apply for a work/residence permit once we actually leave the EU if you are not married to a national of that country.

To the Scots - if the UK leaves the EU and Scotland then leaves the UK, will you let people in from England who wanted to stay in the EU please? Checked my Irish heritage but don't qualify for Ireland (although my mother would).

For me, there are only two logical ways to determine the right to vote in this referendum: either by residence (as was the case in Scotland) or by citizenship.

The chosen system allows a commonwealth citizen to vote, but not british citizens like me. That's not democracy.

I have some reservations about the right of people like me to vote in general elections (and in the past ive agreed with the 15 year limit), but the electorate for the referendum is not the same as for a general election, and it should have been open to all British citizens to have their say.

I left the uk for 9 years with DH for his work. We lived in various different EU countries. We had every intention of coming back and we did once he was repatriated by his employer. DH paid National Insurance in the uk for the whole time. All of our assets remained in the uk.

I'd be fuming if I didn't have the right just because I happened to be out of the country at the time. On the basis of my experience, 15 years seems like a fair call by the government.

WhatsGoingOn That is quite an uninformed post. Some EU countries do not allow you to have dual EU nationality and therefore for some people even though they have lived here a long time, they cannot take the citizenship

YABVU, exactly what Zorion said.

And I'm overseas as a Crown Servant, so too bloody right I'm voting - it is what Ma'am would want.

The chosen system allows a commonwealth citizen to vote, but not british citizens like me.

Because you've lived abroad for more than 15 years? I gather this is the only circumstance under which a citizen couldn't vote.

Whatsgoingon I cannot apply for citizenship, if I could I would but not if it means loosing my initial citizenship. I love both countries alike and feel I belong to both and in many respects I am a lot more british than my country of origin. The law in my EU country of origin is such that even my children who were born here and have lived here all there life did not get the citizenship and it will be incredibly difficult for them to.
It is much easier to get dual citizenship from a country outside the EU. The system is not fair in many respects and just saying "why didn't they take the citizenship" is a little ignorant in my opinion as when EU started a lot of members were worried residents would apply for dual citizenship and prevented it