Am I eligible to use the overseas registration process?

To be eligible to vote using our overseas Voter Registration/Ballot Request service, you must be one of the following:

A United States citizen living overseas.
A uniformed service member, or the family member or dependent of a uniformed service member.

Additional information:

The Voter Registration/Ballot Request service offered through this site is designed exclusively for U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote under a federal law called the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). All UOCAVA voters have the right to use the "Federal Post Card Application (FPCA)" as a simultaneous voter registration application and absentee ballot application. This is the official form that is provided through our voter registration site and services.

UOCAVA affords the right to vote in primary, general, special, and runoff elections for federal offices (President and Vice President, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Representative), as well as the non-voting congressional representatives from the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam.

An overseas voter is a U.S. citizen of voting age who is outside the U.S., either permanently/indefinitely or temporarily, and who is considered a UOCAVA voter.

An absent uniformed services voter is a member of one of the U.S. uniformed services, on active duty. The uniformed services are the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, as well as the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps. Members of the U.S. Merchant Marine also qualify as absent uniformed services voters, as do spouses and voting-age family members of uniformed service members and Merchant Marine members, if they are accompanying the service member.

An absent uniformed services voter must be absent from the electoral jurisdiction where he or she is eligible to vote, either within or outside the United States. The voter need not be absent from the State where he or she is eligible to vote. For instance, a soldier from Houston serving at Fort Hood (also located in Texas) is an absent uniformed services voter for purposes of UOCAVA, but a soldier serving in Houston (e.g., as a recruiter) who is eligible to vote in Houston would not be an absent uniformed services voter for UOCAVA purposes. (Such a person could be eligible to vote absentee under State law if he or she expects to be absent from Houston on Election Day.)

For UOCAVA purposes, the United States consists of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam. Absent uniformed services voters can vote under UOCAVA if living in one of these places.