Family Reunification in Spain is a significant opportunity for individuals who hold a residence permit or have obtained Spanish nationality. The good news is that you can bring your family members to Spain and facilitate their journey to securing a residence and work permit with relative ease. In this article, we provide comprehensive guidance on the essential steps to achieve this.
We will delve into the vital conditions, necessary paperwork, and other pertinent legal considerations required for you to successfully apply for family reunification in Spain as a foreign national. Whether you intend to bring your parents, children, or your partner/spouse, along with other family members, we have you covered.
At our specialized immigration law firm, we are well-versed in the nuances of family reunification in Spain, offering expert legal support to ensure a smooth and legally compliant process for bringing your loved ones to this vibrant country.
What is Family Reunification?
Family regrouping is the legal immigration process by which any foreign citizen residing in Spain with his or her renewed residency permit may carry his or her relatives to the country with him or her. In this way, you can easily give them a permit for residence and work. Therefore, regrouping is the mechanism by which a non-European citizen takes another non-European citizen to Spain. Nevertheless, community family regrouping still occurs. This is applicable when a person residing in the territory of Spain is a national of a European Union country.
While we will discuss each and every one of the comprehensive criteria in this document, there is one that is of particular importance. You will not be able to begin this process with the first residency card you get once you have landed in Spain. The family regroupment with the card obtained by any arraigo procedure may also not be requested. After you have extended your residency permit, you can only apply for the visa for your family.
Basically, this method is created exclusively for those people who have already lived in Spain for a year. Those individuals who obtained their residence permit on behalf of others or on their own account after renewal may legally live in their second year in Spain. In general, this practice is regulated by Law 4/2000 on international affairs and by Decree Law 557/2011. However, in the case that the group is a member of an EU country, the process is governed by Royal Decree 240/2017. However, if the group is a member of an EU country, the process is governed by Royal Decree 240/2017. What these regulations create is that you can carry your family to Spain under a statute This is what is known as a large family (which we will see later), which will allow you to regroup any kind of family, even though it is not in the first line of consanguinity.
Which family members could you bring into Spain?
If we are clear whether we are in a position to regroup or not, the next step is to know which relatives should regroup.
As a foreigner who has a residency permit in the country, you can apply for a family regrouping visa for:
- Your parents
- Your spouse or partner in fact
- Your spouse’s parents / partner in fact (your suegros)
- Your son or daughter as long as they are under the age of 18.
- Your spouse’s / partner ‘s children in fact (the putative children)
How to bring parents with the reunification visa
We begin with the most complicated case of the three: regrouping your father or mother. There are the requirements for regrouping parents in Spain
- It is necessary for your parents to be over 65 years of age.
- Second, you’ll have to show that they really ought to start living with you and taking care of them. In other words, because of their age , for example, they need someone to be by their side. If they are in maximum circumstances or physical faculties would not be possible.
- You need to show that your parents rely economically on you. This can be demonstrated through money transfers you have send them and how you have been in charge of your bills and expenses over the past few months.
- Finally , it is important that the “reagrupante” (foreigner in Spain) has a long-lasting card to be able to regroup them. That is to say, you must have lived in Spain for at least 5 years.
In this situation, the birth certificate is the document that proves the family connection and that you must also provide at the time of the application. Thus, the parents of your husband or wife (your suegros) can also be regrouped. The criteria are exactly the same, but you will also need to carry your marriage certificate with your partner.
How bring my partner or spouse with a reunification visa
As long as the marriage is registered in the Civil Registry, you will regroup both your de facto spouse and your husband or wife. And that would be the document to submit: either the marriage certificate or the de facto couple’s certificate of incorporation. Thus, as you can see, both marriage and civil union are two fully viable choices for obtaining citizenship in Spain.
family reunification visa for children
Eventually, the third group of family members you should regroup: your children. The most important thing to remember is that they can’t be older than 18 years old. The birth certificate will again be the evidentiary record. We can see how to regroup children over the age of 18 and 21 in the following paragraphs.
Extensive family: how to regroup all other family members
Maybe you have read the last sections and have not found the family members you really want to regroup. But there is an option that can make it possible, the reagrupation of the extensive family. Only those people with Spanish nationality or from any other country of the European Union can conduct this type of regrouping. And allow to bring to Spain:
- Nephews
- Brothers and sisters
- Children over 21
- Uncles and Aunts
- Your partner if you haven’t registered the relationship
- Any other family member with a recognised and sufficiently serious disability
Furthermore, another condition for bringing any of the family members of the extended family to Spain is that they rely economically on the “reagrupante” and that they are in charge of their own. In the last 12-24 months, money shipments must have been made, and the “reagrupante” must be paying the full sum of his expenses.
“Reagrupacion Familiar” under “Regimen Comunitario”
Because of the great similarities, many people who wish to bring their family to Spain are confused between family reunification visa and family regrouping for family members of EU Citizens. But the truth is that the procedures for each of them are completely different.
If you are a Spanish citizen or from a European Union country, the process that your family members must follow to come to Spain is the application to a visa for being a family member of an EU citizen. The procedure will be regulated by the Community regime.
On the other hand, if you still haven’t got the Spanish Citizenship, and you are a non EU Citizen living in Spain with a residence permit, the only alternative you have is to bring in your family under the family reunification visa in Spain. In this case, the applicable law will be the General Immigration Regime.
Now you can completely appreciate the importance and advantages of acquiring Spanish nationality. So you can bring your whole family (children up to 21 years) and your extended family as long as you can financially support the person.
If you have lived in the country with your residency permit for enough years, we highly suggest the you apply for Spanish nationality. Efforts have their reward!
Family reunification visa requirements
Let’s now see what are the key requirements for taking your family to Spain as a foreigner.
We emphasize that the family regrouping is planned specifically for non-European citizens. If you are from an EU or EEA member country or from Switzerland, you must be given a visa as a family member of the European Community.
Minimum residency time spend in spaiin
You must have lived lawfully for one year in Spain in order to apply for a family reunification visa. Also, you must be a resident in Spain of Spain. It is not possible to complete the process if you live in some other country.
SUFFICIENT ECONOMIC MEANS
The monetary component is one of the most significant requirements for applying to a family reunification visa . We must ensure that the means that we accredit to the Office of Extranjería are secure over time. That is, we must prove that our source of income have the potential to be sustained over time. Thus, you will have to present the following documents:
- If you have a work permit from someone, you will have to present your contract plus the last six payrolls.
- The last income tax return will also be required.
- If you work on your own account, the business tax return is required.
- Show the ownership of 150 percent of IPREM for the first family member. In the case of regrouping more than one, you would have to add 50 percent to that total per additional family member.
- The Labor Life Survey, granted by the Social Security
- Latest Income Declaration (IRPF).
Thus, to show that the reunite relies economically on the “regroupant”:
- Bank statements must be presented showing that monthly income is clearly being send by the reagrupate towards the reagrupate, as it takes care of its maintenance and everyday expenses.
- Showing how the foreigner in Spain pays him / her some sort of substantial cost. For example, if we want to bring the child together, we need to demonstrate how the father (who will bring him together), pays the university or school.
Reasonable Accommodation
Another thing that the foreign office will evaluate will be the accommodation in which the reunited individual will continue to live. In that sense, we must demonstrate that such housing meets adequate requirements for all family members (and other citizens who live in that house) to live in a decent way and with guaranteed minimums. How do you demonstrate it? You would have to submit an appropriate housing report from the city or town in which you live. Among other items, the report takes into account how large the house is, how many people live in it, the state of it, how many rooms it has, etc.
Demonstrate the kinship bond
As is rational, another of the criteria is to show that the family we carry to Spain is genuinely familiar to us. We have already seen which are certain particular documents according to the relative. But to summarize, the two most common documents are the birth certificate (to carry children and parents); and the marriage certificate (for spouses).
Private medical insurance
Private medical insurance with complete coverage in the Spanish territory is required for the reagrupado, without deficiencies or co-payments. If the foreigner works in Spain, it will not be necessary. As you already have Social Security, like a husband / wife or children.
Other requirements for the family reunification visa
Finally, there are other general requirements (and present in every other international procedure) of compulsory compliance:
- Do not have a criminal record for the last 5 years
- You can not find yourself in an unusual situation in the Spanish territory
- The individual to be regrouped must be in the country of origin at the time of initiation of the procedure
Family Reunification Visa Processing Time
From the start to finish, the process for obtaining the family reunification visa takes about 4 to 5 months. The exact time will depend on how long we take to plan and collect all the documentation; and how long we take to get an appointment with foreigners. The resident in Spain starts the procedure at the Office of Foreigners.
1. Starting the process at the Immigration Office
The person who already has a residence and work permit in Spain must be the one starting with the application process. He or she may begin the request process at the local Office of International Affairs. Within 45 days of the delivery of the documents, you will receive a response. If this is not the case and no reply is obtained during that time, the procedure (due to administrative silence) would be considered to have been refused. If, on the other hand, the response to the Reunification Visa Application is positive, it will take 2 months for the person we bring to Spain (spouse, children, parents) to apply for a visa.
2. Foreigners get their visa at the Spanish Consulate
The Spanish Consulate is where it is important to legally authorize all the documents.
The Consulate will give a reply within 2 months. Upon receipt of the reply, the applicant has two months to obtain the visa. In the case of a child under 18 years of age, he would be the legal agent of the person in charge of collecting the visa.
3. Getting the TIE after arriving to Spain
After that, the family member who starts living in Spain (reunited) will have three months to move to Spanish territory with the visa obtained. He or she has only one month to request the TIE (at the Police Office) when he or she arrives. Yeah, and it is that.
Family Reunification Visa Documentation
As in every other immigration permit, it will be important for the applicant to provide the proper documents. Therefore, any applicant will need to provide:
- A copy of the passport at the time when the foreigner in Spain begins the procedure at the foreign office.
- A copy of the permit for residency.
- Photocopy of the passport of a family member whom you want to take to Spain.
- Document certifying the bond of kinship. In this case, you must show your marriage certificate if you want your partner to be with you. You’ll need their birth certificate if they’re your baby.
- Relevant housing papers, supplied by the town hall of the place where you live. In certain autonomous communities, as in the case of Cataluña, the issuance of this document depends on the regional government, the Generalitat of Catalonia. You would then have to purchase it from that organization.
- Accreditation of proof of ample economic resources (referred to in the previous sections).
- Private insurance for healthcare.
You should bear in mind that you do not need to certify any of the documents. The legal certification of the documents must be carried out only by the member of the family who will be reunited in his country of origin. As for the request for a visa at the Spanish consulate in the country of origin, the regrouped member must provide:
- The national visa application form
- Passport
- Criminal records, duly legalized
- Medical certificate showing that the applicant does not suffer from any illness that can be considered serious.
- The national visa application form.
However, at the end of this, if we want to remain in the country, we must renew the residency permit (not the visa). The refurbishment is carried out in the foreign office corresponding to the region in which you live (within Spain). And it will be done within 60 days after the card expires and 90 days after the card expires. So you just have to be present on those dates.
Basically, we must show that all conditions that were requested for the original application are still upheld. They will have 3 months to provide an answer after finding an appointment with foreigners and supplying the renewal documents. In the event that no later date is reached, the application will be considered to have been approved through constructive administrative silence.
Well, now you know the criteria that you will have to meet and under which conditions you can bring your parents , children or other relatives. We wish you the best of luck with your application!