The voting rights of overseas citizens have often been a contentious issue. For many, it is an inalienable right as a citizen that should not be affected by moving to a foreign country. Others, meanwhile, think that because expats are not affected by most policies back in their home country, especially if they've been abroad for a very long time, it's not important or even ideal for them to vote.
Most – but not all – countries allow their overseas citizens to vote
The first question that should be asked is: can expats even vote from abroad? Thankfully, the answer is “yes” in most cases. The brief “Voting from abroad in European Parliament elections” from the European Union states that in the EU, only four countries bar their citizens from voting from abroad: Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Malta.
In Ireland, voting rights are based on residential addresses, and the only overseas citizens who are allowed to vote are diplomats and soldiers. Maltese expats can technically still vote in Malta's elections, but they need to travel back to the island at their own expense to do so. This is the same restriction that constrains quite many expats from other non-EU countries. Israel and Mauritius are two examples. The one million Israeli and 300,000 Mauritian expats worldwide need to pay for a costly flight back home to be able to vote.
Some countries apply other types of restrictions on their citizens voting from abroad. Expat Kiwis, for instance, are allowed to vote only if they've lived in New Zealand for 1 continuous year at any point in their lives – even if they were a child then. This bars the children of expats who've never actually lived in New Zealand at all but have acquired the nationality of their parents. In Germany, overseas citizens can only vote if they've stayed in Germany for 3 consecutive months in the last 25 years (and these last 25 years must be after their 14th birthday).
The right to vote as an overseas expat is quite new for citizens of some countries. South African expats have only been able to do so since 2013-2014, and the very large population of Indian expats (nearly 18 million expats worldwide) have only been able to vote in India's elections since 2010. The UK recently amended its law in 2024 by extending voting rights to all of its expats, when previously only those who'd been abroad for less than 15 years could vote.
Some countries don't make voting as an expat merely a responsibility – they make it a duty! Mandatory voting is the law in a few countries, and sometimes, this compulsory nature extends to expats. This is the case for many South American countries. Argentinian expats are exempt from mandatory voting, but Brazilian and Peruvian ones are not. They face fines if they do not vote, even if they are abroad.
The case for voting as an expat
Why vote as an expat? While it's true that some policies back in your home country won't affect you while you're abroad, they will still affect your family and friends who are back home. And they will affect you if/when you return home. This might be the key reason why many expats insist on being able to vote, whether by post or in person at their country's embassy/consulate.
Of course, certain policies/issues back home still affect expats even if they never return to their home country. Pensions, overseas banking regulations and family reunification are some of them.
Many British expats might not have voted in the Brexit referendum back in 2016, for instance, but it's impacted their freedom of movement with a British passport, their access to banking services, and even their ability to drive in the EU—all of this regardless of whether they'll ever move back to the UK. Because of the high cost of maintaining non-resident bank accounts after Brexit, some UK-based banks have informed their EU-based British customers that their accounts will have to be closed, which has sent these customers—many of whom are retirees—into a panic about how to access their pensions and savings.
In 2022-2023, before Spain and the UK reached a driving license agreement, there were a few months of uncertainty and panic about whether British expats—many of whom had been in Spain for decades—would still be able to use their British licenses to drive in the southern European country. On the Expat.com forum, some British expats lament that they were not able to vote on Brexit before the abrogation of the 15-year rule because Brexit has had a real impact on their lives abroad. All of this goes to show how important voting can be for expats.
Voting to have a say in family reunification laws is also crucial for expats, given that many expats tend to marry or enter into long-term relationships with foreigners. Voting can have an impact on whether they'll be able to bring their spouse back to their home country one day. It can impact whether their children born abroad can acquire their nationality through jus sanguinis (‘right of blood').
For queer expats, voting can impact whether their marriage/partnership with a same-sex partner or trans partner will be recognized whenever they travel back home as a couple. They might not even plan on moving back to their home country for good, but will they simply be able to holiday there with their partner and book a hotel room together without getting into trouble with the local law?
Voting as an expat can be important to contribute to safeguarding—or even just creating—fundamental rights and, in some cases, even keeping far-right parties at bay in one's home country. In 2015 and 2018, for instance, Irish expats launched the hashtag campaign #HomeToVote to encourage expats to take a flight back home to vote in the referendum that would legalize same-sex marriage and abortion.
The case against voting as an expat
Of course, there are also barriers and even disincentives to voting as an expat. The first barrier is accessibility. Voting as an overseas citizen might be technically legal for some expats, but the process of doing it is impractical or cumbersome to the point that it doesn't seem to be worth the energy.
On the Expat.com forum, some expats say that they've become disillusioned with voting from abroad because the ballot they sent by post got lost or arrived too late. This might be due to an issue with the postal service in their host country more than anything else. Voting in person requires going to your country's embassy or consulate in your country of residence – but what if that embassy/consulate is in another city, and you need to take days off work and buy a pricey domestic plane or train ticket to go there?
Other expats who've already become binationals, that is, acquired the nationality of their host country, might think it's unnecessary or even unfair to vote in two elections. They might prioritize voting in the elections of the second country they're now a citizen of. For expats who've been abroad for multiple decades, especially, their sense of cultural attachment to their home country might have become tenuous over time.
Voting is often an emotional act born out of patriotic feeling, and some expats might not have this feeling anymore after so much time away. They might also feel that they're no longer aware of the reality back home enough to make an informed vote. They might no longer read the news from home that much, rarely or never visit, or not have close family there anymore (most of their family members might have immigrated too or their elderly parents might have passed away).
Sometimes, locals also criticize more privileged expats who vote on issues that do not really affect them, or at least affect them much less than locals. For example, the Indian media reports that many NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) in the US, Canada and UK voted for the current BJP government in the last elections in 2019. They've received criticism from their compatriots back home for doing so when they were not as economically affected as locals by the demonetization of Indian rupee banknotes in 2016, as they earn/save money in more powerful and stable currencies like dollars and pounds.
To conclude this article, voting as an expat is a complex issue. Not only does it reflect the links between individuals, nations and ideals, it also embodies the ability of citizens to influence their country's political decisions, even if they live abroad. By voting, expatriates demonstrate their attachment to their homeland while participating in political life despite the distance. Overall, voting as an expat is a concrete expression of citizenship and commitment to the nation, wherever they may be in the world!
