Chapter 1 Introduction.- Chapter 2 Destination Spain: Sociopolitical Dimensions of a Sociodemographic Phenomenon.- Chapter 3 Theoretical Approaches to Retirement Migration.- Chapter 4 Retired but not Resigned. International Retirement Migrants’ Long-Term Care Strategies on the Spanish Mediterranean.- Chapter 5 Care for Elderly European Immigrants in the Spanish Public Social Services System.- Chapter 6 Exploring Language and Communication: Factors Impeding Retirement Migrants Access to Social Services.- Chapter 7 Another Family: Mutual Aid, Friendship and Charities amongst European Retired Migrants in Spain.- Chapter 8 Transnational Family Care and British International Retirement Migrants in Spain.- Chapter 9 Norwegian Snowbirds, Retired Migrants and Offshore Elderly Care In Alicante.- Chapter 10 What comes after retirement migration? Patterns of death and return from Spain.- Chapter 11 Exploring Social Rights Challenges in International Retirement Migration: Agency, Support Networks and Structure.

This book tells the story of what happens when the “adventure” of living in Spain turns complicated due to the emergence of care needs derived from loss of autonomy. It investigates the care strategies of retirement migrants that must navigate a foreign welfare system and a different “culture of care”, and how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the difficulties they experience accessing care services and information. The book condenses the results of a 4-year (2019-2022) research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science under the title “Retirement migration and the Social Services” and applies a mixed methods approach that combined statistical analysis of secondary data; telephonic interviews with the coordinators of Social Services in more than 80 Spanish municipalities with a high presence of retirement migrants; ethnographic case studies in four municipalities (observation, interviews, focus groups); and an online survey with social workers. Inés Calzada is Associate Professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. 

Explores retirement migration beyond economic factors, emphasising leisure, social interaction and natural resources Discusses transformative effects of retirement migration within the European Union on origin and destination countries Uses mixed methods four-year research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science