Requirements to bring your elderly parents from USA

I can't offer anything on the particular visa you're talking about, but when we originally applied to move to Spain (husband, wife, 3-year old daughter) on a non-lucrative visa, we also applied for my wife's mother to come.

My mother-in-law (MIL) is in her mid-70s and so also needed healthcare.  We got it through a company  but there are several providers who do insure even old people.  Some plans only cover them while in Spain, some cover while in Spain and the rest of the EU, and some (most expensive) cover while living in Spain but also when traveling to any country in the world, including the USA.

Once we had that certificate, we did the rest of the paperwork as though she was a regular member of our family.  We only had to prove the blood relationship (via birth certificate) and it was no problem.

There are two big things that I would warn your friends to watch out for.

One is that if a US citizen on Medicare leaves the US, they have to decide whether or not to keep paying for Medicare.  How much they are paying will depend on their personal circumstances. 

If they quit the plan and then later move back to the United States, there is a fairly significant financial penalty they have to pay to get back onto the Medicare plan- so it's best to be sure they're not going to return.

The other thing is that we didn't realize that we had bought a plan that had a 6-month minimum, and when my MIL wound up not moving to Spain after all, it was a hassle to get the plan canceled.  The Spanish company wanted us to prove that she was living in the USA, but since she lived with family members there weren't any utility bills or anything in her name.

Anyway, the main thing is that yes, even elderly people can purchase insurance.  Some of the "trip" or "travel" insurance companies also market to people who need insurance for a visa reason, but will not sell to someone over 74 years old; others will sell to any age.

Oh, the cost was very reasonable (by US standards) at around 155 euros a month. 

Of course, once she moves to Spain and has lived here a year, in many communities people can go onto the convenio especial and basically join the Spain national health plan.  I don't think that covers them for trips back to the US, but it's still fairly inexpensive insurance.

Hello PapaLima.

Thank you very much for taking time to answer and sorry for my late reply. I visited the "Extranjería" office to request some info and they said my friend has different choices:
1) Her mother can apply on her own from the Spanish embassy in USA... it will take long time.
2) Her mother can come as a tourist visitor and then apply for herself when she arrives, also she can apply for an extended or longer stay visa as tourist till she receives an answer.

Regarding the insurance, she will try to have her mom health insurance coverage in the same company as she has it. Spanish insurance companies can be reluctant to accept a new client of "higher risk" under some circumstances, but if other family members are already in the same company they can accept it. (for example is when a young person has just got his driving license most companies would not accept him/her alone but would do it as part of his/her father's policy).

I'll tell her about the "convenio especial" too.

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,

Jesus.

I think the family reunification, where the mother comes to Spain and applies from here, makes the most sense. Going to the consulate or embassy in the US does take a long time (the paperwork has to go from there to Madrid) and of course the cost involved if the consulate or embassy is not nearby.

Also, for insurance, once someone is in Spain and is shopping it seems to be a better deal on privado seguros than it is if you are shopping plans from the USA. We have looked at dropping our USA insurance for our family and simply going to a privado plan here in Spain because it is less expensive.