To point out that if you're a UK citizen you can now register to vote even if you've lived abroad for more than 15 years?

[CrispEater]

The rules changed in January so even if you've been out of the UK for more than 15 years, you can vote.
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/all-abroad-more-brits-overseas-can-now-register-vote-0
It's very easy to register online.
https://www.gov.uk/voting-when-abroad

You do realise how ridiculous it is to base your opinion on the few people you know rather than actual facts?

Because the people who govern you make decisions that affect us as citizens, even if we arent resident there.
Exactly this. Brexit took our rights away and we weren't even allowed a vote on something which directly affected us - democracy my arse! I will be voting in the General Election because, unless I renounce my citizenship, I will always be affected by government decisions.

I've no idea on the voting stats for those who are now living abroad but do know that before 1985 voting wasn't allowed.

Mrs Thatcher introduced the right - now I'm sure she wouldn't have done that out of the goodness of her heart.

Please don't assume that we immigrants ( I refuse to use the term 'expats') are over tanned Daily Mail boomers, who don't speak or refuse the local language and want to recreate a mini Britain in our adopted country. I don't have a villa, I don't have a pool, I have a tiny flat with no aircon ( it hits 40°c here) where the rent is my entire month's salary for which I work 46 hours a week in a job I love and am lucky to have.

All immigrants I know will not be voting Tory and I promise you we are not well off. We work our back sides off often just to make ends meet.

Yes, there are some people that you describe but they are a minority in the 4 million of us abroad.

I agree but to be honest expatriate isn’t a swear/ bad word, it just means you live outside your native country . So to the UK we are expatriates. We have migrated to the EU and we are immigrants in our adopted countries .

that is a pretty disgusting and ageist (sigh) sentiment.

I checked the UK government website on which ID is acceptable (because i let my UK Passport lapse, it is too much of a faff and too expensive to keep getting one) and you can use an EU issued passport, driving licence or national ID card

here are the details - i guess we ought to publicise that far and wide so that EVERYONE who is elligible to vote, doesn't get turned away (as the person responsible for introducing voter ID when he was PM was reported to have been in the local elections)

How to vote: Photo ID you'll need - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

I always think of expatriates as people who intend to return to their home country at some point? I don't care if people call me an expat or an immigrant (or neudeutsch as it is here when you get citizenship)

I do care if it is used in an insulting way.

While I'm here though, i think that it sucks to pay tax in a country (as i did for many many years) and not be allowed to vote on how it is spent. But that is a decision most people go into with open eyes, and therefore it isn't something that i generally complain about above a grumble now and then.

I don't think there is any official definition, but "expat" to me implies someone who either plans to return or lives in an ethnic/linguistic enclave and doesn't integrate to any extent. I consider myself an immigrant.

https://www.economist.com/britain/2014/08/07/and-dont-come-back
Some of the more aggressive responses on this thread are reminding me of this article by the Economist. Sorry, paywalled, but essentially it makes the point that

a) numbers of elderly Brits retiring to places like Spain have fallen a lot since 2006 and these people are no longer very representative of British people who live overseas
b) Britainthe authorities, that is is notable for how little it engages with its emigrants. Some countries grasp that emigrants are a valuable tool for building up connections of various kinds that can enrich the home country (and can bring back new insights and new skills if they decide to return), and go out of their way to engage with their emigrant population. The British authorities tend to view a decision to leave as a sort of zero-sum decision/insult to the country, and adopt a generally sour attitude. Judging by some of the nastier posts on here, it looks like at least some of the population shares this view.

Voting is more likely to shift a country in a positive direction when more voters have wide and varied life experiences (which could be all kinds of things including various kinds of jobs, travel, education and so on). Overseas voters may have particular insights which come from the experience of living abroad and it can be helpful to be in a position to stand back and view one's country in this way. You're more likely to value things like improving cities' public transport, for example, if you have experience of living in cities where public transport is good and have been able to see how much it improves productivity. You're also more likely to appreciate good things about the UK which can be hard to notice from close up - the UK is unusually good at integrating people of different races, for example, from my perspective.

Expat, in my mind, is someone that is abroad only temporarily, on a work contract, and will eventually return to their home country. Immigrants are more permanent.

I don't know any Brits living in my country that'll be voting Tory, most seem quite left leaning. Tbh with how the government has been I think even many right leaning Brits won't vote Tory!

Seriously?
I am technically British because of my Dad. Can get a British passport but never bothered.
Lived in the U.K. for a few years in the 90s.
So I can vote in the U.K.?

I already vote in Ireland and the US might add a third one.

i don't think "technically British" cuts it for voting. If you were registered at birth as British but have never lived/voted there, i think you can't vote (and that seems fair enough)

What you need is citizenship, not a passport, but you have to actively register/apply for it.

Been reading up on it and I am automatically British as I was born outside the U.K. before 1983 to a British born father who at the time of my birth was married to my mother.
Uk government websites say I don’t need to apply for citizenship but can get a letter confirming it if needed.

There must be a huge number of people in this category.
It seems insane that we could vote.

Yes, in your case your birth certificate alone (and your parents' marriage certificate) would confirm your nationality.

I don't think you can vote though - and that is fair enough. To qualify to vote now as an overseas British person, from what i understand, you have to have previously been on the electoral roll somewhere.

Actually I think you just have to prove that you have lived in the UK. I have been looking into this for my DS but I cant find the proof!