Residence Permit for a Family Member of a Spanish Citizen: Spouse, Partner, Children, Parents

Residencia de familiar de persona con nacionalidad española

~21 min read · Published 22 July 2026 Updated and checked against official sources 18 October 2026 Print / PDF

A non-EU family member of a Spanish citizen receives a residence permit of their own under art. 93 to 98 RD 1155/2024. The permit is issued for five years and allows employed and self-employed work from the first day, and when the application is filed from Spain, work is allowed from the moment it is accepted, before the decision. There is no fee. The spouse and partner of the Spanish citizen, their children, parents, the parent of a Spanish minor and four further categories of relatives apply in Spain or through a consulate.

Contents

• What this permit is
• Pros and cons
• Who applies and who counts as family
• Requirements and documents
• Documents from the US, the UK, Canada and Australia
• Can you work
• How the procedure runs
• Refusal and appeal
• Renewal, divorce and death of the Spanish citizen
• Long-term residence and citizenship

What this permit is

The residence permit for a family member of a Spanish citizen, autorización de residencia temporal de familiar de persona de nacionalidad española, is issued to a national of a country outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland who has a family tie with a Spanish citizen listed in art. 94.1 RD 1155/2024. The rule does not care where or when the tie arose: “independientemente del lugar y el momento en que se cree el vínculo” (art. 93). So a marriage concluded in the United States before the spouse acquired Spanish citizenship qualifies just as a marriage concluded in Spain afterward does.

The second condition concerns where the family lives. The family member accompanies the Spanish citizen to Spain, joins them there or is reunited with them (art. 93), and the family lives together: the list in art. 94.1 opens with the words “siempre que convivan.” There is one exception. The child of a person who is or was a Spanish citizen by origin applies “en cualquier circunstancia,” that is, even if the parent does not live in Spain.

The permit is granted by the Oficina de Extranjería (Extranjería), the provincial immigration office where the family lives. The family member has their own application, their own resolution and their own TIE card. The permit runs for five years (art. 95.3) and allows employed and self-employed work (art. 95.1). The regulation has applied since May 20, 2025. Before that date, family members of Spanish citizens received the EU family member card under RD 240/2007 or a permit under arraigo familiar. Those whose card or permit was valid on May 20, 2025 keep it without a new application as long as they meet the conditions of this chapter of the regulation (DT 3ª RD 1155/2024).

Other situations have their own permits:

• A family member of a foreign resident, rather than of a Spanish citizen, comes through family reunification. That route has an income threshold and a housing requirement, and the resident can apply only after a year of residence in Spain.
• A family member of a citizen of another EU or EEA country or Switzerland receives the EU family member card under RD 240/2007, covered in the article on EU citizens’ residence. The same route is open to a family member of a Spanish citizen if the Spanish citizen lived in another EU country and returned to Spain, that is, exercised the right of free movement (Hoja 62, the information sheet of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration).
• The child of a Spanish citizen is a Spanish citizen by origin (art. 17.1.a Código Civil) and needs no permit. Art. 94.1.h covers a different case: the parent was a Spanish citizen by origin and lost that citizenship, and the child did not acquire Spanish citizenship.

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Pros and cons

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Who applies and who counts as family

The application is filed by the foreign national or by the Spanish citizen, depending on where the family is (art. 97.1). The family circle is closed and has nine categories (art. 94.1):

• a) A spouse over 18, if the marriage has not been annulled or dissolved and was not concluded in fraud of law. A second spouse cannot be covered, even where the applicant’s personal law allows polygamy. If the Spanish citizen was married before, the new spouse and their relatives receive the permit only if the earlier marriages were dissolved in a procedure that settled the position of the former spouse and children: who stays in the family home and what maintenance is paid.
• b) A registered partner over 18, pareja registrada: a relationship similar to marriage entered in a public partnership register of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland, if the registration has not been canceled. This means a partnership register, not a marriage. A partnership registered in a country outside that group, such as a US domestic partnership or a UK civil partnership, does not count under this category. A marriage concluded in the United States, the United Kingdom or any other country falls under category a, and the spouse applies with the marriage certificate.
• c) A stable partner over 18 without registration, pareja estable: cohabitation similar to marriage for at least 12 consecutive months, in Spain or elsewhere. No period is required if the couple has children together and the relationship continues. Marriage, registered partnership and stable partnership are mutually exclusive: the application rests on only one of these three grounds.
• d) Children of the Spanish citizen, and children of their spouse or partner. A child of the spouse or partner qualifies only if that spouse or partner also lives in Spain or is moving there. The child must be under 26. Over 26, the child qualifies if dependent or if they have a disability for which they need support in exercising their legal capacity. The child lives or will live with the family, is not married and has not formed a family of their own. An adoption must have effect in Spain. A child of the spouse or partner under 18 qualifies if the foreign parent exercises parental authority or custody alone, or if the other parent has consented before a public authority or a notary. No consent is needed if the child was born in Spain and has not left it since birth.
• e) Parents of the Spanish citizen, and parents of their spouse or partner, if the marriage has not been dissolved and the partnership registration has not been canceled. There are two possible grounds. The first: the parent is dependent, that is, lives on the Spanish citizen’s means, and has no family support in their own country, for example other children who could support them. The second: humanitarian reasons from the list in art. 196.6, including war or disaster in the parent’s country, several chronic illnesses of the parent, or a recognized degree of dependency of the Spanish citizen or their close relatives. The parent’s age and the length of the Spanish citizen’s residence in Spain do not matter. Parents of a foreign resident come through family reunification on different terms: only after the resident has obtained long-term residence, from age 65, and under 65 only for humanitarian reasons, with the condition that there are reasons why the parent needs to live in Spain (art. 66.1.e). In other words, parents of a Spanish citizen are in a better position. The condition of having no family support at home applies only to them, and it takes the place of the condition about reasons for the move.
• f) The father, mother or guardian of a Spanish minor, if the applicant supports the child and lives with them, or, if living apart, meets their obligations toward the child, for example by paying maintenance. The requirement that this relationship be established under Spanish law was declared void by the Supreme Court (Supreme Court judgment 868/2026 of July 8, 2026, published in the BOE on September 22, 2026 and in force from that date). This means that guardianship established abroad cannot be rejected merely because it was established under foreign law.
• g) One relative up to the second degree who cares or will care for a Spanish citizen with a recognized degree of dependency under art. 26 Ley 39/2006, that is, a Spanish citizen who needs constant help because of age, illness or disability. Only one relative can receive the permit under this category.
• h) A son or daughter of a person who is or was a Spanish citizen by origin. This is the only category in which the family need not live together.
• i) Another family member not on the list, if on the filing date it is reliably proved that they are supported by the Spanish citizen. This also covers a married child with their own family: then all members of that family must be supported by the Spanish citizen (art. 94.1.d).

A minor who is not the child of the Spanish citizen or their spouse, for example one under guardianship, qualifies only if protection measures for abandoned minors have been taken in Spain or abroad and those measures are not contrary to Spanish public policy (art. 94.4). Where there are several relatives, the applications are filed for all of them at once or one after another (art. 94.2).

Dependency, a cargo, for categories d, e and i means a real and stable financial or physical dependency that existed before the application and was not created to obtain the permit (art. 196.1 and 196.2). The regulation treats dependency as proved if, during the year before filing, the Spanish citizen transferred money to the relative or paid their expenses for at least 51% of the annual GDP per capita of the country where the relative lives, according to the World Bank (art. 196.3.c). A worked example for the United States is in the article on family reunification. Dependency can be shown even when the relative already lives in Spain: the condition in art. 196.2.b that it exist in the country of origin was declared void on this point by Supreme Court judgment 868/2026. A parent over 80 or with several chronic illnesses is treated as dependent in any case (art. 196.5).

The person who supports the relative also has a condition to meet: the Spanish citizen must be financially self-sufficient. Art. 196.3.d tests this in two ways. First: the Spanish citizen’s household, including the dependent relative, does not receive the Ingreso Mínimo Vital, the state minimum income benefit. Second: the household’s income or assets are at or above a threshold the rule ties to the non-contributory pension, that is, the pension the state pays to people without a sufficient contribution record. Monthly income must be at least the annual amount of that pension divided by twelve for a household of two, and at least 130% of that figure for a larger household. Instead of income, stable assets worth at least three times the annual threshold also qualify. The pension amount for each year is set by the budget act, and while the budget is rolled over, by the pensions revaluation decree-law: for 2026 this is art. 2.5 Real Decreto-ley 3/2026. The threshold under art. 196.3.d: income of at least €733.60 a month for a family of two and €953.68 for a larger family, or assets of at least €26,409.60 and €34,332.48 respectivelycurrent for 2026.

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Requirements and documents

The main requirement is a family tie from the list in art. 94.1 and living with the Spanish citizen in Spain. For categories d, e and i, dependency is added to the tie. Category f requires supporting the child and living with them or meeting obligations toward them, and category g a recognized dependency of the Spanish citizen.

The general requirements of art. 38 are checked by the consulate when the application is filed from abroad and by the immigration office when it is filed from Spain (art. 97.4):

• A passport or travel document valid for at least one year.
• No criminal record in the countries where the applicant has lived during the last five years for acts that are also offenses under Spanish law.
• No entry ban recorded in the countries with which Spain has an agreement to that effect.
• A medical certificate showing no disease that poses a public health risk under the International Health Regulations of 2005.

When the application is filed from Spain, two requirements of art. 38 do not apply: lawful stay in Spain (art. 38.b) and the visa fee (art. 38.h). This means the application is accepted even from someone in Spain without papers. Under Hoja 18, the medical certificate is not needed either when the application is filed from Spain.

A criminal record is not in itself a ground for refusal. A refusal on grounds of public policy and security must rest only on the applicant’s personal conduct, which must amount to “una amenaza real, actual y suficientemente grave,” that is, a real, present and sufficiently serious threat to a fundamental interest of society (art. 98.1). The exceptions are the stable partner, the caregiving relative, the child of a Spanish citizen by origin and other family members (categories c, g, h, i): they must in any case prove they have no criminal record. In the cases covered by art. 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, automatic refusal on criminal record grounds was declared void by Supreme Court judgment 868/2026, and an individual assessment is required. These are cases where refusing the relative would force an EU citizen to leave the Union, for example refusing the mother of a Spanish minor without whom the child cannot remain in Spain.

Documents (art. 96 and Hoja 18):

• Application on form EX-24, signed by the applicant.
• From the Spanish citizen: a full copy of their valid passport or DNI. For a spouse or partner, also a sworn statement by the Spanish citizen that no other spouse or partner lives with them in Spain.
• From the foreign national: a full copy of their valid passport or travel document.
• A criminal record certificate from the countries where the applicant lived during the last five years, if not in Spain.
• Documents proving the family tie: marriage certificate, partnership register extract, birth certificate, adoption or guardianship order.
• For dependent categories: proof of money transfers, payment of expenses and the relative’s situation in their country (art. 196.3). For category i, also proof of cohabitation, the degree of kinship and, if applicable, serious illness or disability.
• For a stable couple: proof of cohabitation and its length, birth certificates of children in common.
• If the Spanish citizen was married before: documents dissolving the earlier marriages, judicial or notarial under the law of the country where the marriage was dissolved.

Foreign documents are filed with an apostille or consular legalization and with a translation by a sworn translator (traductor jurado) into Spanish or another official language of the province where the application is filed.

Not required at filing:

• A fee: the procedure is free of charge (art. 97.8), and no visa fee is charged under art. 41.2 and 41.3, which exclude art. 38.h.
• Income and housing for the spouse, the partner, the parent of a Spanish minor and the caregiving relative: art. 96 does not list them. An income threshold applies only to the person supporting a relative in the dependent categories (art. 196.3.d).
• Health insurance: it appears neither in art. 96 nor in Hoja 18.
• A year of the Spanish citizen’s residence in Spain: this chapter of the regulation has no such condition, unlike family reunification (art. 68.1).
• Knowledge of Spanish: the regulation contains no such requirement.
• Lawful stay when filing from Spain: art. 97.4 excludes art. 38.b.

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Documents from the US, the UK, Canada and Australia

The United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Australia are parties to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. Marriage and birth certificates, court orders on custody and adoption and criminal record certificates are filed with an apostille and a sworn translation into Spanish. In the US the apostille is issued by the Secretary of State of the state that issued the document, in the UK by the FCDO Legalisation Office, in Canada by Global Affairs Canada or the provincial authority, in Australia by DFAT. The procedure and deadlines for the criminal record certificate are covered in the article on the criminal record certificate.

A US domestic partnership or a UK civil partnership is not a registration in an EU or EEA country or Switzerland, so an unmarried couple from these countries applies as a stable partnership under category c. The 12 months of cohabitation are proved with documents from any country. If the couple registers as a pareja de hecho in a Spanish partnership register after moving, category b becomes available. Which documents need an apostille and a translation we determine when the service is ordered.

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Can you work

Yes, from the first day of the permit. It allows work “por cuenta ajena o por cuenta propia, y en cualquier parte del territorio español, ocupación o sector de actividad,” that is, as an employee or self-employed, anywhere in Spain and in any occupation or sector, with no separate procedure, from the minimum working age (art. 95.1). There is no labor market test (art. 40 LO 4/2000). A relative who obtained the permit as a dependent does not lose it on starting work (art. 95.1).

Filing from Spain gives the right to work even before the decision. As soon as the application is accepted for processing, the applicant is provisionally allowed to live in Spain and, if of working age, to work as an employee or self-employed. This right is not requested separately: the immigration office states it in the notice that processing has started, and that notice is the proof of it (art. 97.5). After approval, the permit takes effect from the filing date. A refusal ends the provisional right automatically, and an employee must inform the employer of the outcome at once. This does not mean that every applicant from Spain has the provisional right: there is none if an application of the same type was already not admitted or refused on the same facts.

Hoja 18, as revised in April 2026, gives the provisional right to work only to spouses, partners and children (categories a to d). Art. 97.5, as amended by RD 316/2026 in force since April 16, 2026, contains no such limit.

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How the procedure runs

The route depends on where the Spanish citizen and the relative are (art. 97.1):

Filing from Spain is open to every category except other family members (i): since April 16, 2026, art. 97.1.c lists categories a to h. Before that date, adult children and parents could apply only through a consulate. Hoja 18, as revised in April 2026, does not yet list category e, but the rule includes it.

If documents are missing, the immigration office issues a request for correction (requerimiento) and allows up to 15 days to answer. Without an answer the application is treated as withdrawn and the file is closed. The office itself obtains information on criminal records and threats to public order from the police, the courts and the Registro Central de Penados, the central register of convictions (art. 97.6).

The decision is issued within two months of filing, and for a consular application from the day the immigration office received the consulate’s communication. Silence means refusal (art. 97.6). This means that after two months without an answer the application is deemed rejected and can be appealed, as explained in the article on administrative silence. The procedure is free of charge and processed with priority (art. 97.8).

If the Spanish citizen filed from Spain, after approval the relative applies for the visa at the consulate within one month, and the consulate issues it within 15 days (art. 41.2). If the foreign national filed through the consulate, the visa is issued within 15 days after the consulate receives the immigration office’s resolution (art. 41.3). For a consular application, the resolution states expressly that the permit has no effect until the visa is issued and the holder enters Spain (art. 97.6). So for an application from abroad the five years run from the date of entry, and for an application from Spain from the date of the resolution (art. 95.3). If the Spanish citizen plans to live in Spain for less than five years, the permit is issued for that shorter period.

The foreign national applies in person for the TIE card at the police station: within a month of notification of approval for an application from Spain, and within a month of entry for a consular application (art. 97.7).

For example, the wife of a Spanish citizen came to Spain as a tourist and files the application from Spain on March 10. She receives the notice that processing has started on March 24 and may work as an employee from that date without waiting for the decision. The approval is issued on May 6. The permit takes effect from the filing date, March 10 (art. 97.5), while art. 95.3 counts the five years from the date of the resolution, so the permit expires in May 2031. She applies for the TIE by June 6.

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Refusal and appeal

The permit or the visa can be refused only on grounds of public policy, public security or public health, and proportionately. The refusal must rest on the applicant’s personal conduct, which the immigration office assesses on the basis of police, prosecution and court reports in the file (art. 98.1).

Resolutions of the immigration office exhaust the administrative route (DA 9ª RD 1155/2024). A refusal is challenged by a recurso de reposición, an appeal to the same office, within a month of notification (art. 124 Ley 39/2015), or directly by a recurso contencioso-administrativo, a claim before the Juzgado de lo Contencioso-Administrativo, the first-instance administrative court, within two months (art. 8.4 and 46.1 LJCA, the administrative court procedure act, Ley 29/1998). Against a refusal by silence, the reposición may be filed at any time.

The appeal to the immigration office we prepare and file ourselves. The court claim requires an abogado and a procurador: we prepare the case, and a partner Spanish lawyer represents the client in court.

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Renewal, divorce and death of the Spanish citizen

Renewal exists only for a permit issued for less than five years because the Spanish citizen planned to live in Spain for a shorter time (art. 95.4). The application is filed within two months before expiry or three months after, although late filing opens a penalty procedure. Filing on time extends the previous permit until the decision. The new permit is issued for five years or for the Spanish citizen’s planned residence, if shorter. After the full five years, the next step is long-term residence, covered in the section below.

The basis of the permit must be kept for the whole term. The permit remains valid while its holder stays in one of the categories of art. 94.1 and meets its conditions (art. 98.2). Changes of address, nationality, marital status and partnership status are reported by the Spanish citizen or the foreign national to the immigration office or the police within two months. If the family no longer lives together, or the Spanish citizen marries or enters a stable relationship with someone else, the permit is withdrawn (art. 98.3).

Divorce, annulment of the marriage or cancellation of the partnership registration do not end the permit if one of the conditions of art. 99.4 is met. The first: the marriage or partnership lasted at least three years before the dissolution procedure began, at least one of them in Spain. The second: custody of the Spanish citizen’s children was given to the foreign national by agreement or court order. The third: the foreign national has visiting rights to a minor child who lives in Spain. The foreign national then requests an independent permit from the immigration office within six months of the admission of the divorce claim or the end of cohabitation, and keeps it for the remaining term (art. 99.4.a and 99.6).

The death of the Spanish citizen does not end the right of residence if the foreign national lived in Spain before it, and the death is reported to the immigration office within six months (art. 99.2). The Spanish citizen leaving Spain does not take the permit away from their children or from the parent with custody of them while the children study in Spain (art. 99.3). A victim of violence by the Spanish citizen keeps the permit on the basis of a protection order or a police or prosecution report (art. 99.5). A stable partner and other family members (categories c and i) are not given an independent permit (art. 99.1). For them, as for anyone else who cannot keep the permit, a change of status under the general rules within three months remains open (art. 99.7).

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Long-term residence and citizenship

Five years on this permit open long-term residence. Over those five years, absences from Spain must not exceed 6 months in a row or 10 months in total (art. 183.2).

Citizenship opens to the spouse of a Spanish citizen after one year. Art. 22.2.d of the Código Civil shortens the residence period to one year for a person who, on the date of the application, has been married to a Spanish citizen for a year and is not separated, either legally or in fact. The same one year applies to a person born abroad to a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother who were Spanish citizens by origin (art. 22.2.f), and to the widow or widower of a Spanish citizen if the spouses were not separated at the time of death (art. 22.2.e). The residence must be legal, continuous and immediately before the application (art. 22.3), that is, the year runs from the date from which the permit takes effect. Partners, parents and other relatives apply under the general rule of art. 22.1: for citizens of the US, the UK, Canada and Australia that is 10 years. The procedure is covered in the article on Spanish citizenship.

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Author Aleksandr Nazarov