Non-EU parents of a Spanish or EU child: your residence options

Key rules

• Card test: Show that you depend on the child, or that you have enough resources and health cover; your own work counts as resources.
• Non-Spanish EU child: The route is the EU family card, and you must be the child's main carer.
• Refusal: A refused card or arraigo familiar is appealed to the office that refused it (recurso de reposición, 1 month) or to the contentious-administrative court (2 months).

Which route fits you

If your child is a minor and a citizen of Spain or another EU country, you have two possible routes:

• EU family card: for the parent of a Spanish or other EU minor who lives in Spain, under the same regime as other EU-citizen families.
• Arraigo familiar: a residence and work permit for the parent of a Spanish minor, for a parent in Spain who cannot use the card.

If your child is Spanish

Courts have accepted that a parent who has custody of a Spanish minor can live in Spain, so the child is not deprived of the real benefit of their citizenship.

Expect to prove that you are the child's parent, with a birth certificate or family book, that the child lives in Spain, and that you meet the card test. Foreign papers follow the legalisation rules in Who counts as family of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen.

A parent shows dependence or resources, while the spouse of a Spaniard shows no funds, because the parent's case rests on the child's right to stay and uses the general regime's means test, whereas the family of a Spaniard comes under the EU-style regime, which has none.

You apply within 3 months of arriving in Spain; the procedure is in The EU family residence card for non-EU relatives.

Arraigo familiar as the alternative

Arraigo familiar is for the parent of a Spanish minor who cannot show dependence on the child or enough resources and health cover. It is also open to people in Spain without papers. You must prove the family link and show that you have custody of the child or support them. You normally apply from inside Spain, on the EX-10 form, and you pay the fee with modelo 790 code 052. The permit gives you residence and the right to work.

If your child is an EU citizen but not Spanish

You can apply for the EU family card if all of these are true:

• the child lives in Spain;
• the child has enough resources and health cover, which can come from you;
• you are the child's main carer.

The card lasts five years. Arraigo familiar is for parents of Spanish minors, so it is not the route for this case.

If you are an EU citizen or a UK citizen

An EU, EEA or Swiss citizen needs no family card and registers instead; see Registering as an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen. The rules for UK citizens are in Who counts as family of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen.