Returning to Spain as a Spaniard with a foreign spouse and children

Key rules

• Consular registration: Register with your Spanish consulate before leaving, because it is useful proof even though the family card does not formally require it.
• Route: A non-EU spouse or registered partner, and stepchildren under 21 or dependent, use the EU-style family card.
• Reagrupación: Reagrupación is a route for foreign sponsors, not for Spaniards.

Register with your consulate first

Registering in the Registro de Matrícula Consular is not formally required to get the family card. Do it anyway. It is strong proof that you lived abroad and that your family lived with you there. It also helps your family relationship and your return get recorded in Spain, including civil-status records and your entry in the local residents' register. Treat it as one piece of evidence next to your lease, work records and local registration.

Which route your family uses

The EU-style card is the route for a non-EU spouse, a registered partner, and children of the spouse or partner who are under 21 or dependent on you; it needs no prior period of residence and gives your family the right to work. Your own children are Spanish citizens: register their birth with the consulate and they need no card. An unmarried partner has no automatic right and follows Extended family of an EU citizen and facilitated entry.

Reagrupación (family reunification) is the route for foreigners who sponsor relatives. It needs a long-term residence permit, so it is not for Spaniards. A parent or adult child who is not dependent on you can use the extended-family route above only if they lived in your household in the home country or need your personal care for serious health reasons; otherwise they use the general regime for foreigners, an ordinary residence permit.

Applying for the family card

Your family applies within 3 months of entering Spain; the procedure is in The EU family residence card for non-EU relatives and the route in Residence for the spouse, partner and children of a Spanish citizen. The papers they bring from abroad are in Who counts as family of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen.

Documents you need

• Proof of your registration in the Registro de Matrícula Consular, the consular register of Spaniards living abroad, issued by the Spanish consulate where you lived.
• The marriage or partnership certificate for your spouse or partner, and the birth certificates of the children.