Studying in Spain with a partner or children: what changes

Not in that situation? Start with the general version: Can your family come with you on your Spanish visa.

Who can come

Your spouse or partner and your minor children can come with you or join you later, if you show funds for the whole family. Each receives their own authorisation, linked to your stay.

• Spouse: you prove the marriage with the marriage certificate.
• Registered partner: the partnership must be entered in a public register, and you prove it with the registration certificate.
• Unregistered partner: on a stay over 6 months, your partner comes under the reunification test: a year or more living together, or a child in common.
• Minor children: you prove the relationship with a birth certificate.

Your family also needs health insurance valid in Spain. Marriage and birth certificates are legalised as set out on the route map.

What you must show

You show EUR 600 a month for yourself plus EUR 450 a month for each family member (2025 amounts).

Why the usual family route does not apply

Reunification needs the sponsor to have lived legally in Spain for one year and hold authorisation for at least one more year. An ordinary student does not meet that. Researchers and highly qualified professionals have a more favourable route: they can apply with their family without that wait (now or later).

What to do next

Your family files at the Spanish consulate where you will apply, or at the Oficina de Extranjería if you are already in Spain. They can apply together with you or after you arrive; applying together is faster. The consular fee for a national long-stay visa is 80 EUR (2025), paid when each family member lodges the visa application at the consulate. A family member who enters on a long-stay visa applies for the TIE within 1 month of arriving in Spain, or risks a fine and problems with their residence status. Relatives of an EU citizen follow the EU regime instead. If a family member is refused, the appeal deadlines are in now or later.

If you have a dependent adult in your family, such as a parent

A dependent parent or other dependent adult relative is not named in the student family route. They need their own route to Spain, separate from your student stay.

If you are a UK citizen

• With Withdrawal Agreement rights, you and your family follow those rules, not the student route.
• Without them, you follow the student route on this page as a non-EU citizen.