EDIT: Somebody pointed out that the government’s voter registration site gives incomplete information on the voting rights of EU and Commonwealth citizens. This is what it says:
However, although it doesn’t say so on the form, that does not apply to a General Election. Helpful, eh?
The Electoral Commission site has this:
Now wouldn’t you think that was worth mentioning when on the registration page?
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Are you absolutely sure about this? As I understand, British, Commonwealth, or EU citizens can /register/ to vote, but unfortunately, that doesn’t imply being allowed to vote in every type of poll. Particularly, many EU and Commonwealth citizens are excluded from voting in General Elections or referenda – even if they’ve lived here for yonks and are completely a part of our society! Only British, Irish, and ‘qualifying’ Commonwealth citizens are allowed to vote in General Elections.
However, it’s still worth registering to vote because you’ll receive your polling card for the polls that you are allowed to vote in and EU citizens are allowed to vote in all but General Elections and referenda (items 1 and 9 in the list referenced below). The other 7 types of poll are available to British, Commonwealth, and EU citizens: “
2. Local government
3. European Parliament
4. Scottish Parliament
5. Northern Ireland Assembly
6. National Assembly for Wales
7. Local mayors, Mayor of London and London Assembly
8. Police and Crime Commissioner
” – https://www.gov.uk/elections-in-the-uk/general-election
(Note that, because every Irish citizen is also an EU citizen, Irish citizens are eligible to vote in all the types, as are British and ‘qualifying’ Commonwealth citizens, provided other rules don’t exclude them.)
*IF IN DOUBT* then try to register anyway because it’s better that the official process excludes you than being put-off by potentially erroneous information. Also, it’s still worth encouraging others to register to vote because you may not know their nationality. Don’t assume that because someone’s lived in one country most of their life that they’s not a national of another – potentially qualifying – country, which they didn’t know was allowed. E.g., someone has immigrated from France after having lived there most of their life, has a French accent, speaks fluent French, and is culturally French, but you didn’t realise that their official nationality is actually Irish and /they/ didn’t realise that Irish citizens resident in Britain are eligible to vote.