Family reunification in Spain: bringing family on a work permit

Ordinary reunification is designed for a foreign national who already holds legal residence in Spain. The standard timing rule is one year of residence plus an application to remain for at least another year. Approval for the family member cannot normally take effect until the sponsor's required renewal or long-term status has actually been granted.

The sponsor—not the relative abroad—starts the process before the Foreigners' Office for the province of residence, in person or electronically through Mercurio. The official decision period is two months; no answer by then is negative administrative silence, not approval. A grant is followed by the relative's personal visa process at the competent Spanish consulate and then the post-arrival TIE steps.

Long-term residents have particular rules, especially for ascendants, and a person who previously obtained EU long-term residence in another member state may have a different timing position. Read the sponsor's permit and the current Ministry information sheet rather than assuming the ordinary waiting rule always applies.

If the sponsor is approaching long-term status, read our Spain permanent residence guide.

The route covers one spouse or a partner over 18 in an equivalent relationship. A registered partnership must remain valid. An unregistered stable partnership normally requires evidence of at least 12 continuous months of cohabitation; that prior period is not required where the couple have a child together and the relationship continues. Marriage and an equivalent partnership cannot be used simultaneously, and Spain does not admit more than one spouse or partner.

Children of the sponsor or spouse/partner qualify if under 18 when the residence application is filed. Certain adult children can qualify where disability requires support or health means they are objectively unable to provide for themselves. Similar conditions apply to persons legally represented by the sponsor. Where only one parent applies for a minor, the evidence must match the actual parental-responsibility and custody arrangement and, as applicable, prove that the child is genuinely in that parent's care together with the other holder's consent or judicial authorisation for residence in Spain.

First-degree parents and parents-in-law face a much higher bar: the sponsor must hold Spain's national long-term residence or Spain-granted EU long-term residence (the family filing may accompany the sponsor's application for that status but cannot be granted first), and the ascendant must ordinarily be dependent, over 65, with reasons justifying residence in Spain. Dependency must be real, stable, pre-existing in the country of origin and not manufactured for the application. It is rebuttably presumed where documented support or paid expenses for at least the preceding year reach 51% of the origin country's annual GDP per capita using World Bank data; that presumption is not the only way to prove dependency. A younger ascendant may qualify exceptionally for humanitarian reasons. The regulation also covers a specific adult child who will care for a sponsor with an officially recognised degree of dependency. These are evidence-heavy categories, not automatic dependant rights.

The sponsor must show fixed and regular resources sufficient for the whole household. The ordinary baseline for two people is 150% of IPREM; each additional member adds 50%. With the official monthly IPREM still €600 in 2026, that means €900 for two, €1,200 for three and €1,500 for four. These are reference floors, not a promise that every form of savings or income will be accepted.

There are protective reduction rules for applications involving minors or represented persons. The Ministry describes an SMI-based safeguard and a separate annual minimum tied to the guaranteed Minimum Living Income amount where a two-person household includes a minor. Because those figures and the family composition matter, do not simply substitute the €900 calculation when asking for a reduction.

The sponsor also needs suitable housing evidence, usually a report from the autonomous community or authorised municipality. If the authority has not issued and notified it within one month, alternative evidence may be possible together with proof that the report was requested. The report or substitute evidence can be no more than six months old at filing. Health cover for sponsor and relatives must also be documented as required for their circumstances.

The usual core is form EX-02, the sponsor's passport and residence evidence, proof of employment or other resources, housing and health cover, plus the relative's complete valid passport and documents proving the family link. Depending on the case, add custody or consent, dependency, transfers and paid expenses, medical evidence, or proof of the need for an ascendant to move.

Foreign public documents normally need an apostille or legalisation unless an exemption or treaty applies. Documents not in Spanish—or the co-official language accepted by the filing authority—need a sworn translation. Transliteration, previous surnames, dates, marital history and parentage should agree across passports, certificates and application forms.

For a later marriage or partnership, the sponsor may need evidence about dissolution of the previous relationship and arrangements for the former spouse and children. A sponsor reuniting a spouse or partner must also declare that no other spouse or partner lives with them in Spain.

A principal applicant under the entrepreneurs and internationalisation law—such as an EU Blue Card or national highly qualified professional holder, intra-company transferee, researcher, entrepreneur or international teleworker—should not default to ordinary EX-02 reunification. Law 14/2013 allows qualifying family members to seek visas or residence authorisations jointly and simultaneously, or successively later, through the UGE-CE system.

The Law 14 family definition includes a spouse or equivalent partner, children who are minors or financially dependent and have not formed their own family unit, and dependent ascendants. The evidence must establish both the relationship and any required dependency. The principal and family files also need the resources, insurance and other general conditions applicable to that route.

The principal permit's route determines the family's procedure; it does not make every relative eligible. Avoid mixing an ordinary IPREM formula, an international-teleworker funds calculation and a consular checklist. Use the current UGE-CE instructions and the consulate responsible for the family's place of residence.

Compare the main high-skill permits in our EU Blue Card vs highly qualified professional guide.

Under ordinary reunification, the spouse or partner and children who reach working age may work anywhere in Spain as employees or self-employed people without a separate work-permit application. The underlying family status must still be valid, and a regulated profession can still require recognition or professional registration.

After the visa and legal entry, a family member whose authorisation exceeds six months normally applies personally for the TIE. Municipal registration, school enrolment, a Social Security number and healthcare access are separate practical steps; none replaces the residence authorisation.

Family authorisations under Law 14/2013 also permit employed and self-employed work throughout Spain without restriction, although regulated professions still have their own entry rules. An employer should inspect the decision and card, and a relative must not start work on the strength of a pending application or visitor stamp.

Plan the registrations with our NIE, TIE and first steps in Spain guide.

Start with the sponsor's resolution: ordinary immigration regulation, EU free movement, Spanish-family rules or Law 14/2013. Then map every relative to the exact eligible category and evidence requirement before spending money on translations.

For an ordinary case, verify these points as a connected file:

• the sponsor has reached the filing point and the necessary renewal or long-term decision is coordinated
• income evidence is stable, regular and calculated for everyone in the household
• the housing report was requested early enough and will still be less than six months old
• insurance coverage matches the status and intended start date
• civil records, custody consent and dependency evidence cover the exact legal category
• apostilles, legalisation and sworn translations are complete and consistent

Ordinary reunification is a chain: sponsor eligibility, Spanish residence filing, decision, consular visa application, collection, travel and TIE. Law 14/2013 can allow joint processing, but family documents and consular steps still take time. Appointment availability is operational and should never be treated as guaranteed.

Keep passports valid, monitor electronic notifications and do not book irreversible travel around a statutory maximum. If a child is close to an age threshold or a housing report is close to expiring, obtain case-specific advice before filing; the relevant date can be decisive.

A parent is not eligible merely because the sponsor sends money occasionally; dependency, age and reasons for residence must be proved. An adult child does not qualify simply because they live at home. An unregistered partner needs durable evidence, and a visitor's presence in Spain does not turn an overseas family process into a free in-country conversion.

The safest application is conservative about labels and generous about evidence. If a relationship, custody order or dependency pattern does not fit the standard category, resolve that issue before choosing the procedure.