Nationalities

Can a Commonwealth citizen register to vote?

Qualifying Commonwealth citizens are entitled to register as Parliamentary and as local government electors provided that on the relevant date they also fulfil the age and residence requirements for registration and are not subject to any other legal incapacity.

Citizens of Commonwealth countries other than the United Kingdom are not eligible to register as overseas electors.

Qualifying Commonwealth citizen

A person is a qualifying Commonwealth citizen if they do not require permission to enter or stay in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man or they do require permission to enter or stay in the UK but have been granted such permission or are treated as having been granted such permission.

Any type of permission to enter or stay is acceptable, whether indefinite, time limited or conditional.

Commonwealth citizens temporarily in the UK and pending removal

The Home Office have advised that Commonwealth citizens who are temporarily in the UK pending removal, are not in the UK legally whilst arrangements for their removal are being made. As these citizens do not have permission to enter or stay they are not eligible to register to vote.

List of Commonwealth countries
Antigua and Barbuda	Jamaica	Saint Lucia
Australia	Kenya	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
The Bahamas	Kingdom of Eswatini	Samoa
Bangladesh	Kiribati	Seychelles
Barbados	Lesotho	Sierra Leone
Belize	Malawi	Singapore
Botswana	Malaysia	Solomon Islands
Brunei Darussalam	Maldives	South Africa
Cameroon	Malta*	Sri Lanka
Canada	Mauritius	Togo
Cyprus*	Mozambique	Tonga
Dominica	Namibia	Trinidad and Tobago
Fiji	Nauru	Tuvalu
Gabon	New Zealand	Uganda
The Gambia	Nigeria	United Kingdom
Ghana	Pakistan	United Republic of Tanzania
Grenada	Papua New Guinea	Vanuatu
Guyana	Rwanda	Zambia
India	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Zimbabwe

Can a citizen from the British Crown Dependencies register to vote?

The British Crown Dependencies consist of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands including Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Alderney, Herm and the other inhabited Channel Islands.

Citizens of the British Crown Dependencies who are resident in the UK are considered to be Commonwealth citizens for the purposes of electoral registration. However, unlike Commonwealth citizens, they may register as overseas electors.

Can a foreign national register to vote?

Electors of any nationality are eligible to register to vote in local government and Scottish Parliamentary elections, providing they meet with the age and residency requirements and that they are not legally incapable of voting.

A qualifying foreign national is a person who is not:

a Commonwealth citizen, or
a citizen of the Republic of Ireland

and who has or does not require leave to remain or is treated as having leave to enter or remain in the UK.

Subject to meeting the age, residency and legal capacity requirements, citizens from the Republic of Ireland and the Commonwealth are eligible to register to vote in UK Parliamentary elections.

Who can vote in which elections?

The table below shows citizens and which elections they are eligible to register to vote for.

If you are unsure whether you are eligible to register to vote due to your nationality please contact my office for assistance.

	British	Commonwealth	Qualifying foreign national
UK Parliamentary Elections	YES	YES	NO
Scottish Parliamentary Elections	YES	YES	YES
Local Government Elections	YES	YES	YES