family reunification visas<\/a> are so specific.<\/p>\nShe said: \u201cThey\u2019re able-bodied and without there being consultants\u2019 letters and real medical problems per se, I don\u2019t think you\u2019ve got a chance in hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018What happens if I use all my time up?\u2019<\/p>\n
Donna is meticulous about keeping track of the 90 days she can spend in Spain every six months, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s even down to what flight you book, you begrudge getting on an evening flight landing at 10 o\u2019clock because that counts as a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mother had bronchitis last week, and she didn\u2019t fly out to visit her because she \u201ccouldn\u2019t justify\u201d using up the days in case something more serious happened later in the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worrying thing for me is if I\u2019ve used all my time up, what happens when they really do need my need my help?\u201d she said. \u201cIf they\u2019ve had a fall or whatever, and I have to say: \u2018Well, I\u2019m sorry, I can\u2019t come over because I\u2019ve used all my time up\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n
Donna says her mother has become so used to Spain that she wouldn\u2019t \u201clast five minutes\u201d in the UK.<\/p>\n
Familes expected to chip in<\/p>\n
Sally Myburgh, who runs a Facebook group with over 50,000 members offering advice to British expats in Spain, thinks the care situation is \u201cone of the worst things\u201d about post-Brexit life in Spain.<\/p>\n
![\"Benalmadena](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SEI_268647229.jpg\")
The Costa del Sol is sunny year-round, attracting British retirees who want to escape the cold (Photo: Alex Tihonov\/Getty)<\/p>\n
She says this is made worse by the fact that the Spanish care system is designed for families to help, with even hospitals expecting that they take part in the care.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the national health system here, someone in your family is expected to be there 24\/7. They are expected to feed you, wash you, take you to the toilet, take your clothes home and wash them \u2013 everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The UK Government website warns expats in Spain that \u201cfamilies are generally expected to provide social care\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018No other route\u2019<\/p>\n
Myburgh thinks the system, as it stands, is forcing people to take desperate measures. She knows of expats\u2019 children who have overstayed their visas illegally to nurse their parents who are dying of cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are being forced into a situation of overstaying because it\u2019s the only route left to them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut even that\u2019s not a route for someone with dementia, because that can take decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another Brit, The i Paper spoke to, living in Melgaco, had to bring her daughter over from the UK at the last minute on a tourist visa to care for her mother, 85, who kept having falls.<\/p>\n
They are now in the process of trying to get the daughter a work visa so she can stay, but she would have to return to the UK to apply, which she can\u2019t do because that would leave the grandmother alone, leaving them stranded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there should be a lot more flexibility as who is considered a dependent, so people would know they could call on a niece or a granddaughter if they need to\u201d, said this expat.<\/p>\n
Talks between the UK and the EU to negotiate a \u201creset\u201d are due to take place this summer, though the issue of visas for family carers is not due to come up.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said: \u201cWe regularly engage with the EU to ensure the rights of UK nationals living in the EU are upheld as agreed in the withdrawal agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The European Commission, which handles migration policy for the EU, told Reuters that cases where the absence of a family member providing care \u2060would force the elderly beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement to leave the host state were evaluated on merit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retiring to the Costa del Sol to spend your final years in the Spanish sun has long been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1935,21060,1936,973,21061,17],"class_list":["post-47128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-brexit","tag-dementia","tag-expats","tag-family","tag-social-care","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SEI_303129243.jpg\")
Donna Maddox, 57, says her mother Marion, 81, (right) has become so used to Spain that she wouldn\u2019t \u2018last five minutes\u2019 in the UK<\/p>\n