Voting as a Foreign Resident in Luxembourg: What You Can and Cannot Vote In

Three elections, three sets of rules

Luxembourg holds three kinds of election that matter for residents: communal (municipal) elections, held every six years, most recently in June 2023; European Parliament elections, held every five years across the EU; and national (legislative) elections, also held roughly every five years. The eligibility rules differ sharply between them, and mixing them up is the most common source of confusion for newcomers.

• Communal elections: open to Luxembourgish nationals and, under conditions, to foreign residents of any nationality.
• European elections: open to Luxembourgish nationals and to citizens of other EU member states resident in Luxembourg.
• National elections: reserved for Luxembourgish nationals only.

Because the country runs a communal election on a fixed six-year cycle rather than at a moment chosen by the government, it is also one of the more predictable dates in Luxembourg's civic calendar, and communes typically start publicising registration well in advance of the deadline. Watch your commune's newsletter or website as the date approaches, since that is usually the first and clearest notice that registration has opened.

Communal elections: open to foreign residents

Since a reform championed by associations such as ASTI and adopted by the government, Luxembourg abolished the previous requirement that foreign residents live in the country for a minimum number of years, five years in practice, before they could register to vote in communal elections. According to the official elections portal, both citizens of other EU or Schengen states and non-EU foreign residents can now register to vote in their commune's local elections, provided they are at least 18 on election day, are domiciled in Luxembourg, and, for non-EU nationals, hold a valid residence permit or legitimation card. EU citizens keep their voting rights in their home country in parallel, so registering in Luxembourg does not mean giving anything up.

Registration is not automatic: you need to apply to be added to your commune's electoral roll, typically at the commune's citizen's office, and the deadline for the 2023 elections was 55 days before polling day, so check the current deadline on Guichet.lu or your commune's site well ahead of the next vote rather than assuming plenty of time is left. Once you are registered, you stay on the electoral roll under the same conditions as a Luxembourgish voter, and your registration transfers automatically if you move to another commune within Luxembourg, so this is a one-off step rather than something to repeat before every election. Voting in communal elections in Luxembourg is compulsory for those on the electoral roll, in the same way as for Luxembourgish nationals, so registering is a decision with a real obligation attached, not a purely optional civic gesture.

European elections: EU citizens only

If you hold the nationality of another EU member state, you can also register to vote in European Parliament elections while resident in Luxembourg, choosing to vote either for Luxembourg's Members of the European Parliament or, depending on your home country's rules, to vote there instead. As with communal elections, this requires a separate registration on the European electoral list, handled through Guichet.lu or your commune, and is not automatic just because you are registered for communal elections. Non-EU nationals resident in Luxembourg cannot vote in European elections, since that right is tied specifically to EU citizenship rather than residence.

National elections: Luxembourgish nationals only

Luxembourg's national, or legislative, elections choose the members of the Chamber of Deputies and are reserved for Luxembourgish nationals, regardless of how long a foreign resident has lived in the country or whether they vote locally. This is the one category where residence, however long, does not create a right to vote; only nationality does. A 2015 referendum asked Luxembourgish voters whether to extend national voting rights to long-term foreign residents, and the proposal was rejected, which is part of why the national and local systems have developed so differently since. For long-term residents who want a say at the national level, the route remains naturalisation, which brings its own conditions around residence duration, language and civic knowledge, covered in outline in our guide to registering with your commune and, for the language side, in our guide to learning Luxembourgish.

Dual nationality and switching lists

Luxembourg allows dual nationality, so a foreign resident who naturalises as Luxembourgish does not have to give up their original citizenship in most cases, depending on the rules of that other country. Once you acquire Luxembourgish nationality, you become eligible to vote nationally and your name moves from the foreign electoral list to the Luxembourgish one for communal and European elections as well. There is a practical wrinkle worth knowing: if the nationality is granted too close to an upcoming election, specifically after the registration deadline for that vote, you may not be transferred to the Luxembourgish list in time, but you can still vote in that particular election using your existing foreign registration if you were already on it.

A few common questions

Do I have to vote once I am registered? Yes, for communal elections. Voting is compulsory in Luxembourg for everyone on the electoral roll, national or foreign, once registered, and unexcused absence can in principle be sanctioned, so treat registration as a commitment rather than a low-stakes option.

Can I register even if I plan to leave Luxembourg in a few years? Yes, there is no minimum intended length of stay required, only the residence and documentation conditions described above at the time of registration.

What if I move between communes? Your registration follows you automatically to your new commune, so there is no need to re-register from scratch, though it is worth confirming with your new commune that the transfer has gone through.

Our take

Voting rights are one of the more generous parts of Luxembourg's approach to its large foreign population, particularly at the local level, and registering is worth doing if you expect to stay for more than a year or two, since it gives you a direct say in decisions, from local infrastructure to planning, that affect the quarter you live in. If you are still deciding which commune or quarter to settle in, our neighbourhood guides cover the character of each area, or contact us if you would like help matching a home to your plans.

This article gives general practical information and is not legal or tax advice. Procedures, amounts and deadlines change; check the current rules on guichet.lu or with the administration concerned.