Moving with a partner: what changes

Not in that situation? Start with the general version: Can your partner or children work or study on a family permit.

Which rules cover your partner

• You are a Spanish, EU, EEA or Swiss citizen: your married spouse or registered partner has an automatic right to the EU-style family card. A registered partnership counts as marriage.
• You are a non-EU national: the general regime applies. Your spouse, or your partner in a registered, marriage-like relationship (a pareja de hecho registrada), can join you once you have lived legally in Spain for one year and hold authorisation for at least one more. If your route allows it, they apply together with you instead: now or later. Same-sex marriages count like any other marriage. Polygamous marriages are excluded.

If you are not formally registered

• Non-EU mover: proof of a stable relationship makes your unregistered partner reunifiable: at least 1 year of living together, or a child in common.
• EU or Spanish mover: an unregistered partner with proof of a durable relationship gets the family card. The authorities check the proof; it is not automatic.

Marrying or registering the partnership is optional: it replaces the proof of a stable relationship with a certificate. Many regions and towns keep registries of parejas de hecho, each with its own requirements.

When your partner can work

A partner who is reunified by a non-EU resident can work from the day the permit is granted; the TIE is the proof. Partners of an EU or Spanish mover work once the right is recognised, and the application receipt lets them stay and work while the card is pending. Details by route: work rights on a family permit.

If the family route does not allow work, or you would rather not wait, your partner can apply for their own permit: employment, self-employment, highly qualified, digital nomad, student or arraigo familiar. That permit rests on their own activity and does not depend on you.

Documents you need

• Passports for both of you, and a declaration that you are not married to anyone else (for reunification).
• The marriage certificate, issued by the civil registry of the country where you married, if you are married.
• The registration certificate from the public registry, if you are in a registered partnership.
• If you are not formally registered, evidence of the relationship: a shared lease or padrón registration showing 1 year together, the child's birth certificate, joint bank accounts, travel together or sworn statements.
• Criminal record certificates for adults, where the procedure asks for them.
• A sworn translation and legalisation of foreign documents: rules by country.