Campaign to give foreign-born workers a voice in UK elections amid warning over referendum ending right to work in Britain

Sitting in the front bar of the Horse and Groom pub in Lincoln, Jacek Musialik, a former economics student from Poland, said he had a challenge for the thousands of eastern Europeans who now call the east Midlands city home.

The 34-year-old said that even though many of the Poles, Lithuanians and other EU migrants had been in the city for "eight, nine or 10 years now" they still saw themselves as temporary visitors.

"They, and the rest of the community, need to answer one question: when does a 'migrant worker' become just another worker, another active, engaged member of this city?"

Musialik, who works as an adviser at the local Citizens Advice Bureau, is one of three eastern Europeans – two Poles and one Lithuanian – standing as independents in the local elections in Lincoln in May.

If they are successful they could blaze a trail for what campaigners say is an emerging force in UK politics – the migrant vote.

"I hope that by standing for election I can involve fully eastern Europeans in the community," said Musialik. "At the moment they can feel isolated, they often live in certain areas, they work mostly with other eastern Europeans and they don't feel like they have a voice."

Over the past few months, a concerted campaign has sprung up attempting to engage, register and bring out to vote as many as possible of the 600,000-plus Poles thought to be living in the UK.

Organisers have launched a major social networking campaign, held meetings with MEPs and placed adverts in the Polish media. Now they have put a call out for Polish candidates – with some success.

"It's been nearly 10 years since Poland entered the EU so it's high time we spoke out and got our voices heard," said the campaign's spokesperson, Marta Gregorczuk-Migdalek.

"We cannot achieve this in any other way but through becoming politically visible. We have built our lives here, we feel at home and we contribute socially, culturally and economically – but politically we don't exist."

All EU citizens have the right to vote in local and European elections in the UK and the campaign to get them involved politically is spreading beyond the Polish community.

A group calling itself the New Europeans is mobilising as many of the UK's 2.5 million EU migrants as it can before May's European and local elections.

It is warning voters that a no vote in a European Union referendum after the next election would end migrants' right to work in the UK.

Last month it sent out letters to Poles, Italians and Romanians living in the UK, stating: "This may be your last chance to vote in Britain" and "Your future and that of your family, community and friends may depend on it." Now it is working with groups representing the other EU countries with big populations in the UK, such as Spain, Germany and France.

The campaign is gathering momentum and, with turnout at about 31% for local elections and 34% for European elections, organisers say there is a real chance that EU migrants will have an impact on the makeup of town halls up and down the country on 22 May.

Roger Casale, former Labour MP and chair of the New Europeans, said: 'There is a lot at stake in this year's local and European parliamentary elections. I am not sure the political parties have really woken up yet to the power of the EU citizens' vote. If we include British citizens living abroad, EU citizens now make up almost 10% of the UK electorate. Their votes will change the outcome in many marginal seats."

The task is challenging. Although the number of EU migrants registered to vote in the UK more than tripled in the decade to 2012, reaching 1.3 million according to research from the European Institute at Sussex University, the Electoral Commission estimates that only 56% of EU migrants were registered compared with 84% of UK nationals.

In the bar of the Horse and Groom Musialik, flanked by his two campaign managers – one from Lithuania, the other from Wales – remained undeterred. They have launched a classic grassroots campaign: knocking on doors, organising a string of social events and going out and holding impromptu surgeries in the network of eastern European food and wine shops that have popped up around the town.

Igor Kartel, a Lithuanian campaign organiser, said: "These are the places where people talk in their own language and can catch up on news and swap ideas so we will be spreading our ideas through these networks and giving people information about how to register."

So far, it appears the three main parties have yet to recognise the potential of the migrant vote. None of them had any information about initiatives to appeal to EU voters when contacted by the Guardian.

In Lincoln the Labour council leader, Ric Metcalfe, said the authority had tried numerous initiatives to reach out to the city's growing eastern European population, but he admitted "political engagement has always been problematic".

He added: "From a narrow partisan perspective, we would rather they were standing as Labour candidates. But taking a wider democratic engagement point of view this can surely only strengthen community cohesion if people feel they have more of a stake, more of a voice."

The council says there are almost 5,000 people in the city with European passports but Musialik and his team say the true figure is somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000. And with the winning candidate in some wards being elected with fewer than 800 votes, they are optimistic their campaign could make waves on 22 May.

"Groups who do not vote are not heard, it is that simple, and I will do my best and I hope to win," said Musialik, finishing his coffee. "But in one way, whatever the outcome, it will be a success because people will come out of the shadows, they will be aware that they can vote, they will be aware they can take part."