Good morning all, for those of us who are UK citizens and have been abroad for over 15 years or who have never registered in the UK: we can now vote in UK elections - the previous rules have been rescinded.
It’s all thanks to a Mr Shindler who campaigned tirelessly by unfortunately passed away before seeing the fruits of his campaign. I suppose we are on Shindler’s list.
There’s an article and link in the Grauniad. Or on Gov.uk. Can apply online.
We have just done ours online. It took slightly longer than the 5 minutes suggested. You need passport details and National Insurance number.
@Alan_Dargie
Several other threads on this
And now seems ro be fully functional
As a brit landing in France fairly recently (2018) could i suggest to all that if you have just re gained your voting rights to consider a proxy vote. The reason for this suggestion is I registered for overseas voting and during the last but one general election (too many) I lost out due to postal delays and missed my chance of expressing my electoral preference. Now my mother in law is a proxy voter for me - I think she respects my requests 
Yes sorry I posted using my phone as soon as I read the Grauniad article. I didn’t notice the other (earlier) threads until later.
I have a British passport, but I’ve not lived in the UK for 45 years, and only take a superficial outsider’s view of what goes on there.
I now have a legal right to vote, but do I have a moral right?
for me, the answer lies with a different question…
Can my vote perhaps do some good… ???
eg voting for someone I feel is decent and/or a Party which I feel might do better things for ordinary people than the other ones on offer…
(that sort of thing…)
If my NOT voting means I am NOT taking a stand (however small) against something/someone I consider “bad”… then I have my answer…
I must vote, choosing to support the best person/party in my personal opinion… or the least bad of a dodgy lot 
we’re all different and I respect each person’s right to disagree with my view
@Alan_Dargie thank you for the link 
Off-topic already.
A good question. My wife from Luxembourg feels very strongly she - morally - shouldn’t vote there, as she hasn’t lived there since the age of 2.
I have just registered in the UK* For my part, as I hope to receive a UK state pension, may suffer lifetime allowance tax on my pensions, am concerned for our ability to (hypothetically) return to the UK being married to a non UK citizen, want to ensure best treatment on NHS for my aged Mum etc, I think I have enough grounds that I feel I can justify (if only to myself!) a personal vote from a non UK resident.
*Really straightforward if you have the details @EmilyA mentions above plus your former postcode. I didn’t need to upload any documents.
When you see the impact of recent governments and their actions on the exchange rate for UK based pensions, you really do want to be able to vote!
In addition many of us have children and grandchildren living in the UK and want better for them.
Not really. We haven’t got to food yet.
Touché …
Having received an email yesterday confirming my electoral registration I have today applied for a postal vote.
It all worked without problems. Anyone doing this please note that they now ask for an image of your signature - this was never the case in the past. It’s worth being prepared with a suitable photo or scan of your signature before you start the process.
I tried yesterday not sure if it was the right site, put it old UK post code and had to use a link to email local electoral office didn’t get further? Didn’t find field for BNI no or passport etc.
I’ve just received a confirmation email from my ex-local council confirming I’m registered as an overseas voter. It mentioned that I’m not currently registered for postal or proxy voting so I think I’ll take @PeterJ’s advice and arrange for both, just in case.
UPDATE; Just a few hours after applying I have just had an email confirming that I am registered for a postal vote from today.
My local district council in the UK (who used to deal with voter registration) have recently disappeared/merged into a unitary county authority, who seem to be very efficient with all the voting stuff.
I have always used a proxy with a postal vote in UK (apart from the Brexit vote when I travelled over to UK to vote in person - waste of money that was!)). The postal service is so erratic that can’t guarantee that ballot papers will arrive in time for one to return them . My sister has my proxy, and she applies for a postal vote.
Debating whether to register now as overseas voter or not (still pay council tax in UK so still on electoral register there).
Good question. I’ve been in France since 1980 and in Germany for many years before that. My problem is like yours … except that I come from Northern Ireland. And that means that there is a possibility that all NI residents will be asked to decide on a potential United Ireland - by referendum - in the next 20 years. I wouldn’t want to miss out on that.
However, I started the process and was quickly rebuffed - they had no knowledge of my postcode, name or address - and I have no idea of my National Insurance number. I voted once in my life in 1970, at 21 years old, just after they had changed the age from 21 to 18. There is no record of this according to the Ulster authorities (completely separate from the mainland UK authority).
But in general I agree entirely: why should we have a voice in the affairs of a country we haven’t lived in or paid taxes to for over 40 years?
Under UK election law, once registered to vote, Britons worldwide will also be permitted to donate to political parties and campaigners. A useful by-product for those politicians and campaigners !
Good question! I would much rather have voting rights here in France but don’t have those either!