Applying for non-lucrative residence as a couple or family

Key rules

• Each family member: Each family member adds 100% of the IPREM per year, which is 7,200 euros at the 2025 IPREM.
• Joint funds: Spouses can combine funds, but the accounts must be in your name or your partner's.
• Registered partners: A registered partnership counts as family.
• Applying later: Reunification needs you to have held residence for at least one year.

How the funds stack

A spouse and a child count the same: each adds the same amount on top of what you must show as the main applicant. The IPREM amount is per person.

The main applicant's own amount is set out on the page about the money you need to show. This page only covers the extra for your family.

If you are the family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, you do not use the non-lucrative route. You apply under the family member of an EU citizen route instead, with no IPREM funds addition. If you are a UK citizen with Withdrawal Agreement rights, your residence follows the Withdrawal Agreement rules and not the non-lucrative funds rules.

Can you combine funds with your partner?

Joint accounts and your partner's own accounts are normally accepted. Money in an account held only by a third party, such as a parent or friend, is usually not accepted.

Who counts as a partner

A married spouse counts as family and you prove the marriage with your marriage certificate. A registered partner counts if the partnership is entered in an official registry that gives it a status similar to marriage, proved with a registration certificate. An unregistered partner is not automatically family: you must prove a stable de facto partnership, for example with evidence that you live together, and the consulate decides case by case.

Documents from a non-EU country need an apostille (or full legalisation if the country is not a Hague Convention member) and a sworn translation into Spanish. Documents issued in an EU country need no apostille, and a multilingual standard form replaces the translation for the document types that have one.

Apply together or later

Family members can apply at the same time as you. Each person files their own visa application with their own documents at the consulate. This is the usual route.

They can also apply later through family reunification. That route has its own requirements, including funds and housing, so plan for them before you choose it.

Each family member pays the same consular and residence card fees as you and appeals a refusal the same way (a recurso de reposición within one month); the amounts and the court window are in Do you qualify for the non-lucrative residence visa (residencia no lucrativa)?.

Can your family work?

You cannot work on a non-lucrative permit, and neither can the family members who apply with you. The right to work comes with family reunification, once you have held residence for 1 year; for finding work as a partner or dependant see second income.

If you apply with children, a parent or other dependants

• Children: Minor children under 18 qualify. Adult children qualify only if they are dependent and not self-sufficient, through reunification. Prove parentage with a birth certificate.
• Dependent parent: A parent can join only through family reunification, with proof of financial dependence and, in general, an age of 65 or over.
• Other relatives: Siblings and other adult relatives who depend on you have no right to join you on this route — see Which Spanish family route applies to each relative.

Documents you need

• Bank statements for the accounts holding the family funds, in the name of the applicant or the partner.

• Proof that you own the account, such as a joint account contract or a letter from the bank, in the applicant's or partner's name.

• For a spouse: your marriage certificate, apostilled or legalised.

• For an unmarried partner: a registration certificate from an official partnership registry, or documents showing a stable relationship, such as proof of living together.

• Sworn translation of any foreign partnership or relationship document into Spanish.