Family reunification in Spain for non-EU residents

Before anything else, identify the correct route. Three different frameworks are routinely confused, and applying under the wrong one wastes months.

• Family reunification under the general regime (this guide). The sponsor is a non-EU national holding legal residence in Spain, and brings qualifying relatives to join them.
• Family member of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen. Governed by the EU free-movement rules, with different conditions and its own card. See our family of an EU citizen guide.
• Family member of a Spanish national. Under the current framework this has its own temporary residence authorization for family members of Spanish nationals, with its own scope and procedure, generally applied for using form EX-24. It is not the general reunification route described here. Where the Spanish citizen has exercised EU free-movement rights, the EU free-movement family rules may still be relevant, so the situation should be checked case by case.

The reagrupante — the sponsor — must hold qualifying legal residence in Spain and satisfy the conditions set out in the rules for this route.

The main ones, in practical terms:

• Residence duration. The general regime requires the sponsor to have resided legally in Spain for the period established, and to have obtained authorization to reside for a further period. This is a route-specific condition and it is one of the first things checked.
• Valid, renewed status. An expired card or a residence permit in the middle of an unresolved renewal complicates the file.
• Housing and resources. Covered in its own section below.

Certain routes — notably those under Law 14/2013 such as the highly qualified professional, investor or international telework authorizations — provide their own family provisions with different conditions, often allowing family members to apply jointly from the start. If the sponsor holds one of those authorizations, the general reunification conditions described here are usually not the applicable framework.

At a practical level, the relatives contemplated by the general reunification route are:

• Spouse or registered partner, where the relationship is not in fraud of law and, in the case of a partner, where it is duly evidenced under the conditions the rules require. Situations involving more than one spouse are expressly restricted.
• Children of the sponsor or the spouse/partner, under the age established and unmarried, including adopted children and, in defined circumstances, children over whom the sponsor exercises parental authority or legal representation.
• Certain dependent ascendants — typically of the sponsor or the spouse — subject to the age condition and the requirement to evidence dependency and reasons justifying the need to authorise residence in Spain. Access to this category is generally linked to the sponsor holding long-term residence or being in the situations the rules identify.

Note that "family" in the everyday sense is broader than the legal categories. Siblings, cousins, adult independent children and in-laws are not contemplated by this route.

Three substantive conditions sit at the heart of most reunification files.

Adequate housing. The sponsor must evidence suitable accommodation for the family, normally through a report issued by the competent authority — the informe de vivienda adecuada, generally issued by the autonomous community or the town hall. The report assesses the property's characteristics against the size of the family. It takes time to obtain, so it is usually the first thing to start.

Sufficient resources. The sponsor must show economic means to support the family once reunited, assessed against the criteria in force and the number of people involved. Evidence typically includes employment contracts, payslips, tax returns, Social Security records or, for self-employed sponsors, the corresponding business documentation. We do not publish a figure here because the reference amounts and the way they are calculated derive from current rules and can change.

Health coverage. The rules require health coverage for the family, satisfied through the public system where the sponsor's situation provides it or, where applicable, through insurance meeting the conditions. Our health insurance requirements guide explains what tends to be accepted and why policies get rejected.

The general reunification route runs across two countries, in three practical steps.

1. Authorization in Spain, by the sponsor. The sponsor applies for the temporary residence authorization for family reunification before the competent Oficina de Extranjería in the province of residence, filing the housing report, resources evidence and proof of the family relationship. If granted, the authorization is notified and the family member is informed.

2. Visa at the consulate, by the family member. Within the deadline established after the authorization is granted, the family member applies personally for the residence visa at the Spanish consulate with jurisdiction over their place of residence, filing their own documentation — passport, criminal-record certificate where required, medical certificate where required, and the civil-status documents.

3. Entry and card. With the visa issued, the family member travels to Spain within its validity, and then applies for the TIE.

Family files fail on paperwork far more often than on substance. Foreign public documents proving the family relationship generally need to be both legalised and translated.

• Civil-status documents. Marriage certificate, birth certificates, and where relevant partnership registration, adoption or custody decisions. These must normally be recent enough to be accepted.
• Apostille or consular legalisation. Documents from countries party to the Hague Apostille Convention carry an apostille; documents from other countries need consular legalisation. This is done in the country of origin and cannot be improvised later.
• Sworn translation. Documents not in Spanish generally require translation by a traductor jurado recognised for that purpose.
• Dependency evidence for ascendants: transfers, cohabitation records, medical documentation and anything establishing genuine economic dependency over time — not a single recent payment.

Start apostilles and translations early. In many countries they are the longest single item in the whole process.

Once the family member enters Spain with the reunification visa, two steps follow quickly.

TIE. The Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero is applied for in person, with fingerprinting, within the deadline established after entry. The card documents the authorization; it does not create it. Our TIE guide covers documentation and appointments.

Padrón. Registration on the municipal padrón at the address where the family actually lives is a separate municipal formality and is frequently requested afterwards — for school enrolment, health-centre assignment and later immigration steps. See our empadronamiento guide.

Renewals. The reunited family member's authorization is generally tied to the sponsor's situation, and renewals are examined against the conditions continuing to be met. Changes in the sponsor's status — job loss, a change of route, a move abroad — can affect the family member's position, so they are worth reviewing in advance rather than at renewal.

Whether a reunited family member can work, and under what conditions, depends on the authorization actually granted and on the rules in force. The Spanish framework has evolved on this point, and the position also differs between the general reunification route and the family provisions attached to Law 14/2013 routes.

What we can say responsibly is this:

• The scope of any work right comes from the resolution and the applicable rules, not from the family relationship as such.
• Conditions can differ by age, category of relative and route.
• Where a work right is not included, a separate step may be needed before starting employment or self-employment.

Because a wrong assumption here can mean working without authorization, check the terms of your own resolution and the current rules before accepting a job offer, rather than relying on what a friend's card allowed in a different year.

• Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — Autorización de residencia temporal por reagrupación familiar
• Ministerio de Inclusión — Reagrupación familiar (Hoja informativa 8)
• Ministerio de Inclusión — Hoja 18: Autorización de residencia temporal de familiares de personas con nacionalidad española (updated April 2026)
• Ministerio de Inclusión — Modelos generales (EX-24)
• Ministerio de Inclusión — Vivir en España

Official requirements, reference amounts and deadlines can change. Confirm the current position with the competent authority before preparing or submitting an application.