Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what identifying information is required for residents not living in the UK to register to vote in UK elections.

Currently an overseas elector must be a British citizen who was previously registered within the UK within the last 15 years. Overseas electors are subject to identity checks when registering to vote in the same way as domestic electors.

They are required to provide their full name, date of birth and National Insurance number to be checked against DWP data. If an overseas applicant’s identity cannot be verified via the National Insurance number check, they can be required to provide an attestation of identity from a registered overseas elector who is not a close family member. Overseas electors are also subject to checks to demonstrate their connection to the address at which they are registering.