“We’ve experienced that kind of hostile environment, which most people in Britain thinks is directed against foreigners, but it’s also directed against British citizens with foreign spouses,” he added. “That gives me very little confidence about what’s going to happen after I retire, and this ridiculous [visa] threshold that has been introduced recently.

Bruce Darrington, chairman of the British Overseas Voters Forum, which supports for UK citizens living abroad, encouraged expats to register to vote and invited them to join the advocacy group to “collectively influence MPs and candidates, constituency by constituency, at the next election and beyond”.

“Other European countries give the right to their citizens to bring their foreign national spouse to live with them in their country automatically,” he said. “The UK is the odd one out.

“But as overseas citizens we are now at last voters and it is now in our hands to get this changed.”

A Home Office spokesperson said:  ”The current levels of migration to the UK are far too high. That is why the Government announced a plan to cut the number of migrants coming to the UK by 300,000 a year – the largest reduction ever.

“Migration policy must be supportive of the wider ambition for the UK to be a high-wage and high-skill economy, which is why we have raised the minimum income requirement. This ensures migrants are making a net positive contribution to the UK.”