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?

YABU and I think the general reasons why have all been explained above perfectly by other posters.

I live in a country with a Schengen Agreement with the EU and depending on the future relationship the UK has with Europe my life in this country could be severely affected.

At the moment I am stuck in the country I live in, as my DH walked out and then threatened me with legal action if I left here. We did not come here on a permanent basis but now my situation has changed.

Also I think about the future of my country as my DS will more than likely return one day.

And I pay NI, have a pension in the UK and Premium Bonds and savings. A lot of expats do.

We'll become expats later this year. We will still:

Own a UK property
Pay UK tax
Pay UK National Insurance
Maintain savings and investments in the UK.
We receive no state benefits at all.

We'll be gone 3 years at most. We're moving for work and have little choice in the matter.

If the referendum was to take place in October rather than June do you really think we (and thousands of others in the same position) shouldn't be entitled to a vote?

FindersKeeprs We were abroad with HM Forces, and now dh has a job post retirement with the organisation that Cameron claims is the bedrock of our security (and it isn't the EU).

We pay tax in the UK, have a house in the UK, our son is at university in the UK, and when the contract ends in 2019, I will be going back to the UK, hopefully never to live abroad again.

My Mum has our postal proxies, and will put the crosses in the leave box.

I'm an expat, I own a house and have a pension in the UK where I plan to retire. I have already cast my postal vote to leave the EU. Keen to see which way it goes, feeling a bit left out of all the hysteria over here!

Yabu

YABU. It affects ALL British citizens.

I also think EU residents here should get to vote, seeing as it may affect whether they can continue to live and work here.

Feeling a bit silly now op? Expats aren't just some Pratt living in Spain voting in for their benefit.

Oh dear.
And why am I, British living in France, an "expat" yet a Romanian living in the UK is an "immigrant" ?!

I am an EU immigrant. As far as I'm concerned, I'm a British European. I would like to move back to the UK, my heart is there. However, I would also love to experience life in Italy, Germany and maybe elsewhere for a few years before that. If anything I people like me should be more qualified to vote than those who haven't experienced life out of the UK?

WhatsGoingOnEh
That's exactly my point. I have chosen to remain a British citizen, and my children are British citizens, yet I don't get a vote. By your own definition, where's the democracy in that?

And thank you Zorion for your eloquence, I couldn't agree more.

Just to throw a spanner in the works, my passport is for a Commonwealth country, I own property in the UK and abroad, have private pensions in the UK and abroad, pay tax in the UK and abroad, don't hold a British passport and get to vote in the upcoming referendum.

Yes, I absolutely believe other EU citizens living in the UK should vote. They live here.

Janecc-no I don't feel "silly" it's a perfectly reasonable question.

I find it insane the rules are so different to those used in the Scottish Indyref, where anyone in Scotland could vote, but Scots three miles south of the border couldn't.

The people who have really been shafted are pensioners who have lost the right to vote but still depend on their UK pensions and whose healthcare depends upon reciprocal agreements. Those who have pensions paid by the UK government - ex civil servants, army, health professionals - still pay UK tax in their pensions despite not being tax resident. Financially they stand to lose in several ways - a weak pound reduces their income, while the loss of guaranteed pension uprating is a big risk.

These people are UK taxpayers who often gave 30-40 years of their lives to public service in Britain and it is a travesty that they do not get a vote.

I live in Australia and have an EU passport. My children have the right to live in the UK, so yes, I do have the right, and interest to vote in the referendum.

I pay taxes in the UK and Australia, so yes, I have the right to vote.

Even after 15 years have passed I, and people like me will still be paying tax, so what exactly is your point, Snowflake?

Mistigri's point is an excellent one.

It isn't a reasonable question because of the way it is worded. Had it been worded in a more adult way, then it would be a reasonable question.

Excellent point Mistrigri.

popmimiboo I agree with you that there is a real issue with the terminology. I hate being described as an expat, the word can have so many negative connotations. As can immigrant or economic migrant. At times, expat seems most used to describe those who have indeed turned their back on their home country, and economic migrant broadly seems to encompass those people moving between countries with broadly incomparable economies in order to improve their financial situation. I realise that these are generalisations, though, and that the situations of groups and individuals are far more nuanced than that.

I often wonder whether equimigrant might be a good term to describe people who move eg within the EU to continue a life / salary / career more or less equivalent to that they had in their home country (or to continue the analogy I used in an earlier post, people who move within the EU in the same way as they would move within the UK - after all, no-one would call you an immigrant or an expat for moving from York to Brighton, for example, would they? And if you feel connected to the spirit of the EU, there is a mindset which doesn't distinguish between moving between two cities in the same country and two cities in diffident counties, and that's how I feel about my own life).

No doubt it's imperfect terminology too, same as the others, but in trying to find a term I feel matches our own situation, it sometimes feels like one which fits....

I'm an expat living in an EU country and I have voted. Why shouldn't I? It affects my right to stay here and my children might have to give up their British citizenship because of it. We may want to move back at some point for a few years, too. Plus, I can't vote here either so would be completely disenfranchised if I couldn't vote in the UK either.

Oh god this is just the Scottish referendum all over again. I'm from Glasgow and I was living in London during the referendum - I got told I was a "quisling" and that since I'd abandoned Scotland I'd no say in its future. Now I'm in Germany in time for the Brexit vote, and I'm getting told the same. In both cases, it mattered to me personally for the same reason - whether I ever return to the UK/Scotland/whatever the fuck is left after the effects of the vote next Thursday settle, I'm still going to have to travel on whatever Mickey Mouse passport you lot leave me with...

I have some sympathy with this, 15 years is a long time - particularly for expats outside the EU who won't be affected by it. I know a fair few who are planning to vote out with no intention of living through the consequences and who may (or may not) return when the dust settles. Many countries have dual taxation agreements so they aren't paying UK tax (unless they have some source of income in the UK). Quite a few have no home here so wouldn't be affected by a property price crash, they are paid in local currency and their savings and pensions are safely offshore somewhere.
I sort of feel that perhaps no time limit for British citizens resident in the EU and a shorter one for those outside might have been fairer. Something a bit more than a typical single overseas posting (maybe 5 years?).
I do realise this opinion seems to be in the minority here though!

As a Brit living in another EU country, surely I should have the right to contribute to a vote that will determine on what grounds I can continue living here as a Brit, indeed if at all.

Brexit would affect my life here for sure.

Also I have chosen to remain a British citizen and not take the citizenship of my current country because I imagine that one day I'll move back to the UK. And because despite not living in the UK right now I still feel very much British and have many financial and familial ties to the UK.

I don't get to vote on anything here where I live as I am not a citizen, so fair enough I get to vote somewhere!

Can't vote as I have been out of the UK for over 21 years -however, the decision will affect me as I plan to move back in 2 years :(