Choosing your family route
You will know which regime applies to each family member, whether to bring them now or later, and roughly what it will cost.
Moving to Spain with family is not one process. The sponsor's nationality and status decide the regime, and the regime decides what each relative must prove, how long it takes and what they may do once admitted. Choose the route before you file anything, because a wrong choice can cost months.
Pick the article that fits your situation
Which Spanish family route applies to each relative
Spain has two main family tracks, and which one your relative uses depends on the nationality and status of the person they join.
Reunification versus EU-style family rules: what changes for you
Compares Spain's EU-style family rules with general family reunification on who qualifies, income and housing tests, speed, card length and work. For people bringing a relative to Spain, including those whose relative is a Spaniard.
Can your family come with you on your Spanish visa
Most Spanish residence visas let your partner and children apply with you or follow later, if you show extra funds for each of them. Student visas and the closed golden visa work differently.
Bring your family now or reunify them later
Helps you decide whether your family applies together with you or you reunify them after you have settled in Spain. For non-EU newcomers planning a move with a partner, children or a baby on the way.
Can your partner or children work or study on a family permit
Your partner can work once the permit is granted, your children can work from 16, and everyone can study.
Switching family regime after marriage or when your sponsor naturalises
Explains when a new marriage to an EU or Spanish citizen, or a sponsor becoming Spanish, lets your family move to the EU-style regime, and how: a new application, not an automatic conversion. For non-EU family members already in Spain.
Family joining a UK national protected by the Withdrawal Agreement
Shows which relatives can still join a UK national who is protected by the Withdrawal Agreement and lives in Spain, and what happens to relatives whose relationship started later. For UK nationals and their families.
Family unity for refugees and people under temporary protection
Refugees, asylum beneficiaries and people under temporary protection bring family through their protection, not through a reunification file.
What the 2025 immigration regulation changed for families
A new immigration regulation changed the family routes in Spain from 20 May 2025.
Moving with a partner: what changes
This version is for people moving to Spain with a partner.
Studying in Spain with a partner or children: what changes
This version is for students on a Spanish student stay.
About this topic
Key rules
- Spanish, EU, EEA or Swiss sponsor: relatives get the EU-style family card.
- Non-EU resident sponsor: relatives are reunified under the general regime.
- Not covered as family: a relative outside both regimes needs their own residence route.
- Some visas include family: non-lucrative, digital nomad, student, highly qualified and entrepreneur holders can apply together with their family.
Choosing your family route: the whole process, step by step
- Work out the regime for each relative. The sponsor's nationality and status decide it, not the relative's.
- Check which rules apply to your file. Files filed before 20 May 2025 can continue under the earlier rules.
- Compare the two regimes on income, housing, speed and card length.
- Decide whether family applies with you or follows later. Students and partners have their own versions.
- File. General reunification, the EU-style card and a baby born in Spain each have their own procedure.
- If the application is refused, reconsideration within 1 month or court within 2 months after an express refusal, as alternatives; after silence, reconsideration at any time and court within 6 months.
- Plan work and study for the household.
- Special cases: marrying a Spanish or EU citizen, a sponsor who becomes Spanish, refugees and temporary protection, a UK national protected by the Withdrawal Agreement.
Documents you may need
- Passports, and the certificate that proves each relationship: marriage certificate, partnership registration, evidence of a stable relationship, birth certificate or proof of dependence.
- Foreign civil documents, with an apostille, legalisation or neither, plus a sworn translation, depending on the issuing country.
- For general reunification: the sponsor's residence card, income proof and the adequate-housing report.
- For a switch of regime: the marriage certificate and your spouse's identity document.
Explore places
Where you live changes the details. See how Spanish regions and cities compare on rent, jobs, weather, safety and healthcare.
What to read next
More in Partners, dependents, and family routes
Family of EU and Spanish citizens
You will know whether your relationship to an EU or Spanish citizen qualifies and how to enter and apply.
Partners and registered partnerships (pareja de hecho)
You will know which formal step gives your partner status, how to take it, and how to prepare for relationship scrutiny.
Children and their residence status
You will know how each child is covered, what to register for a newborn, what custody evidence is needed and what changes as the child grows.
Also in Immigration and residency
Need certainty before you act?
For important relocation decisions, speak with a qualified human specialist.
Always verify important information with the relevant official authority or a qualified adviser before acting. This website uses large language models together with various public data sources, official government documents and other established sources. Due to the amount of data on this website, some information might be wrong. Information may also be incomplete or outdated.