Dubai: It’s anyone’s guess when a referendum on the UK’s membership in the European Union will be held for British voters living at home and abroad.

The Conservative government has yet to announce a specific date when the referendum will be held to honour a pledge to hold a vote on the issue before the end of 2017.

But the UK Electoral Commission isn’t waiting for a firm date and has launched a new campaign to encourage UK expatriates to register as overseas voters ahead of any announced date for the vote.

In a statement from the UK government on Sunday, officials said: “The commission is advising UK expats to register sooner rather than later so that they can be sure they are registered in time. Expats can now register online to vote in just a few minutes at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.”

Philip Parham, British Ambassador to the UAE, encouraged UK expats to vote ahead of time.

“There are more than 120,000 British nationals living in the UAE. Many of them are eligible to vote. The UK Electoral Commission’s campaign — which British Embassies are supporting — seeks to make voters aware of how to register for what will be a highly important vote.”

Of 5.5 million UK expats living abroad, there were 106,000 overseas electors on the commission’s register.

Alex Robertson, director of communications at the UK Electoral Commission, said: “A lot of people aren’t aware that it’s possible to register as an overseas voter for certain UK polls — UK Parliamentary General Elections, European Parliamentary elections and the upcoming EU Referendum. Many people are eligible to vote and now it’s easier than ever to take the first step by going online.”

To register as an overseas voter, UK residents overseas must previously have been registered in a UK constituency within the last 15 years.

Once registered, overseas voters can then choose between three different methods of voting. They can vote by post, by proxy (voting by appointing someone you trust to vote on your behalf), or even in person at their polling station if they will be in their local authority area on polling day.

It should be easier to vote by post for this referendum as the timetable for postal votes has been extended to allow postal votes to be sent out earlier than usual, giving overseas voters more time to receive, complete, and return their ballot pack to the UK.