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?

... which I see you have already stated your position on. Sorry!

BungoWomble- most of us live a pretty normal life, not the high life. I lived in Germany - kids at local school, holidays in Europe, joined local groups and clubs - same as anyone else.
There are some places where you are financially compensated for the location - I now live in China - but this is generally a hardship allowance and not countries where you routinely take on their citizenship. The Chinese aren't interested in becoming a citizen even if I protest that I have been out of the UK for over 21 years.

drwhy I have significant assets in the UK and would be affected by the UK leaving the UK. However I'm taking the long term view and thinking of the next generations.

Well, I'm voting by proxy.

I don't live in the UK but we have a UK property, pay tax, pay national insurance and have British children who may want to study or live in the UK in the future. I also have friends and family in the UK.

When you are a citizen of a country, you get to vote for the fate of that country. Unless you're from North Korea or somewhere similar. Be thankful you come from a country that lets its citizens vote and be part of it.

Also, gold plated packages are a thing of the past. We are 'stuck' in the US because DH is on one and if we move he must accept a local package with no benefits such as pension rights (as in we pay our own NI contributions), flights home to visit family, housing, car allowances and help with private health insurance. Dhs employer leaves us alone because no expats on a local contract will come to the NYC area for the salary they are willing to pay. Quite frankly I don't blame them because £50k here is nowhere near enough to support a family let alone the healthcare costs, visits home and pension payments for two adults. We run a business on the side plus I work.

Just to reply, yes I thought I might get a flaming about the WW veteran. Yes he was in the war as were most others of his generation. He left a very long time ago.

Go away Bungle. Your comment are more immature by the minute.

So sorry you find practicalities so 'immature'. There has to be a cut-off somewhere.

Why a cut off? Just because you work in another country doesn't mean you cut yourself off from the UK. I've been out of the UK for 10 years. I consider myself far more informed about current affairs and issues than the average Brit. I read 3 British newspapers plus I am still very much connected to my family and friends residing in the UK. If you met me in the UK you assume I was a local and after having left for 10 years I still bump into people who think I still live in London and not the US because I visit home so often and don't have a transatlantic drawl that others seem to 'develop'. It isn't so cut and dry.

Im just about scumeron going to Gibraltar to plead for staying in -although the news says because of a shooting hes cancelled trip for now (awful aboutt the shooting BTW).

when the fuck has scumeron ever cared about Gibraltar? and what about all theother territories belonging to the UK? why doesn't he visit them?

and if UK remains wont they have to take their share of migrants/refuges? -genuine question.

(slightly off topic but talking about overseas residents).

Just to remind people, I did say that of course short term expats should vote, the 15 year cut-off sounds right... the crucial test would seem to be whether you really practically intend to come back. And that's you, not your children or your children's children unto the nth generation. Some people want to have their cake and eat it. Reading papers does not gice you a true reflection of what life is like in Britain for the majority of people, some of whom have never left the UK or had a holiday for years. Some of whom are dying on benefit sanctions or on the streets as homelessness rises.

'the crucial test would seem to be whether you really practically intend to come back.'

For as long as you are a British Citizen you have the right to live in the UK. Regardless of a citizens intention, a British citizen will always have the right to come back and therefore should always be allowed to vote no matter how long they have been out of the country.

Can I ask the Brexpats a couple of questions? Do you have assets in the Uk still? If so, what do you think is going to happen to their value if the UK decides to leave the EU? Also, what is your primary concern....is it immigration? Because I find it hard to understand how an economic migrant from the UK to elsewhere (and this is how I view myself) can get snotty about economic migrants from other places to the UK. Or is it something else?

The local paper coverage and interest where we live (Middle East) is fairly significant, and most commenters can't even begin to get their head around why the Uk would want to leave.

I'm not voting with my heart, as someone suggested earlier - I'm voting with my head. This should be a rational decision and not an emotional one.

Don't worry OP. It's so bloody difficult to vote from overseas that hardly anyone will manage it. This report says that 26,000 were registered. I'm one of them and have tried to vote twice with no success.

In the general election voting papers were posted so late I had no chance. This time I tried to get a postal vote from the UK as I am there atm but was offered a proxy - but only for the area I used to live in. I have pals in that city that I would trust but not one that will be going to my polling station.

Supermum, perhaps we should look again at the concept of citizenship and what it should mean in an international world then. Those people left 30 and 35 years ago. I would have been barely starting secondary school or still in primary, many of the people who will be most affected by this decision wouldn't have been born, the WWW hadn't been invented yet. What can they possibly know about what is right for Britain now?

who I voted to leave because having observed previous votes, if we vote this way the EU normally gives concessions and does a second vote. If they don't we are still better off though because of the lack of transparency is wholly unacceptable to me.

I have significant assets in the UK which would decrease in value should the UK leave. However collectively I think the UK is much better out of the EU in the long run. I am quite happy to take that hit now and for those who are with less be left in a better position in the long run.

As far as being an economic migrant, I do find it unfair that the UK are not able to pick who comes to the UK. There needs to be a process and it needs to be equitable. I've ended up in the US and the immigration process is a nightmare. I was able to get in because I had a Greencard as a child and they agreed to activate it after going through the whole process. Otherwise I wouldn't have qualified.

When we talk about migration, my opinion is that a nurse from the Philipines should go through the same immigration process as a nurse from Poland as a nurse from Spain. What we have now is inequitable migration. There is also the fact that with freedom of movement it becomes close to impossible to have any proper planning for services such as healthcare and education.

BungoWomble the majority of the UK population, including the ones who have never left the UK except for an occasional package holiday, don't have a clue what it is like for people on benefit sanctions or dying on the streets either - that argument holds no water at all, it has never been the case that people have to display any level of awareness of the least fortunate, nor any empathy or intelligence to vote...

I strongly feel they should be able to if they have British citizenship. Who is to say they weren't planning to return home?

Technically, I could be considered an immigrant to the UK as I was born and raised elsewhere until my late teens. I do however hold British citizenship through my parents who were born here, but emigrated with their parents early in their childhood. My parents and I then returned to the UK when my parents were in their early 50s. I lost my right to citizenship of the country I was born in because I chose to retain British citizenship although I should have been eligible for dual nationality. Despite leaving/moving back etc over long periods of time, my family are all very much British and would have felt very strongly about being refused the right to vote if we lived elsewhere.

The same argument came up with the Scottish referendum, I had lived there for 10 years prior to the referendum but moved in early 2014 so technically wasn't allowed a vote. I was able to claim a vote due to armed services eligibility as a spouse, but I was furious when I found out initially that I might be denied a vote.

People feel very strongly about their home country, emigration doesn't necessarily mean a permanent move. However, I do agree that perhaps 15 years on is quite a long time, perhaps the cut off point should be more recent.

I'm surprised that UK citizens that have been away from the UK for longer than 15 years aren't allowed to vote. They should then also allow EU citizens that have been UK for longer than 15 years to have a vote.

I am an EU citizens, have been here nearly for 20 years but am not allowed to vote.

monster If you were a British citizen would you be eligible to vote? I think if you have been in the UK for more than 15 years you would have taken up citizenship if you wanted a say in British society. That's the reason I went for US citizenship. I live here and wanted to have a voice through the voting process locally and nationally. I can't be president of the Us but I can use my vote to choose between the lesser of two evils.

I guess Want2bSupermum but then there was never any need, apart from voting rights. And it costs about a £1000 and you have to pass that silly citizen test to get a UK passport. Might well consider it if we exit though.

Voting rights are rather important to me. I live in a town where we vote for the board of education, our mayor our judges as well as our true political representatives. It's important to me that I have a say. Also £1000 is cheap to me for the right to vote.

Well, I am allowed to vote in local elections, which I always have done. My vote for the national elections wouldn't go anywhere anyway as I wouldn't vote for any of the big parties and I'm in a Tory stronghold. So no, until this referendum, I really didn't see the need.

I'd have gone for UK citizenship, only the UK has this daft first past the post system which means your vote essentially doesn't count if you live in politically the wrong area. I live in True Blue Toryland, so I could vote for other parties until I was blue or otherwise in the face, but my vote would be meaningless.

And it does cost well north of £1000 - that is after you have paid £65 for a residence card to prove you're even allowed to naturalise (nice little earner there, Tories!) and taken a language test to the tune of about £140. It's a huge, huge rip-off for very little return as things stand.

I'll do it in case of Brexit, obviously.

Yes, the British citizenship is about 1k plus all the extra cost like mentioned above. Someone who's been through the process, said it was about 1.5k in total in the end. That is a lot of money. And if you are a couple, then twice that. I really can't say that's "cheap for the right to vote".

I just wish I'd done it myself years ago, early noughties it was about £250.