EU Citizens’ Voting and Candidacy Rights

• EU citizens are now no longer automatically entitled to register to vote, vote or stand for election in local elections in England.

• Two groups of EU citizens will retain their rights: 

  • ‘qualifying EU citizens’ from countries with reciprocal agreements, and who have leave, or do not require it, to remain in the UK - currently Denmark, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain

  • ‘EU citizens with retained rights’ who were resident in the UK before 31 December 2020

• This does not affect the rights of citizens from Cyprus, Ireland or Malta as these countries are also in the Commonwealth

The franchise amendment for EU citizens is a change in registration eligibility for EU citizens currently residing in the UK. 

Following the UK’s departure from the European Union on 31 December 2020 the way in which EU citizens register to vote has changed and new requirements have been introduced.

This will mean that in order to vote or to stand in local government elections and Police and Crime Commissioner elections after this date an EU citizen will be required to be:

• a qualifying EU citizen, or 

• an EU citizen with retained rights

Further information on these changes can be found on the Electoral Commission website.

A person is a qualifying EU citizen if they:

• are a citizen of a country with which the UK has bilateral Voting and Candidacy Rights (VCR) treaty 

• are resident in the UK with any form of leave to remain, or do not require such leave 

Currently the UK holds bilateral treaties with the following countries:

• Denmark

• Luxembourg

• Poland

• Portugal

• Spain

A person is an EU citizen with retained rights if they:  

• are a citizen of a country with which the UK does not have bilateral Voting and Candidacy Rights (VCR) treaty 

• have been legally resident in the UK since before the UK left the EU on 31/12/2020

All EU Citizens whose details were held on the register of electors prior to these changes coming into force on 7 May 2024 will now undergo a review of their eligibility rights.

This is a stand-alone exercise to be completed only once in order to:

• identify citizens who are eligible to remain registered to vote and confirm their continued registration; and

• identify citizens who are not eligible to remain registered to vote under the new criteria and remove them from the register

• The review will be partly data-based and partly carried out through correspondence with relevant electors. 

 From Saturday 21 September 2024 we will send a letter to all EU citizens to:

1. Confirm if we were able to verify their historic residency using local data and therefore they are not required to take any action - a letter will be sent confirming this. 

Or

2. Request more information from those residents whose details we could not verify and ask them to confirm if they meet the new requirements. This information can be provided online, by phone, by email, or by returning the form that will be delivered to the address. More information will be provided in the covering letter.

EU electors can either respond by post using the form that is included with your letter or by using the Gov digital service. The digital service takes around 5 minutes.

Example below of the paper Registration Review Form unverified EU citizens will receive and will need to return:

Example below how to respond online:

The ‘unique digital code’ in Step 3 will be included in the letter that is sent to EU citizens who need to take further action.

Any EU citizens who have registered since 7 May 2024 will have confirmed their eligibility when they applied to register and do not need to take any further action.

Further information on these changes can be found on the Electoral Commission website.

Important note:

The ‘Registration Review Form’ must be completed and returned. Reminders will be sent. Those EU Citizens that do not return the form will be removed from the Register of Electors in January 2025.

View contact information for the electoral services team.