Which route your spouse or partner takes to live with you in Spain depends on one fact: your own status here. If you are a foreign national with a residence permit, it is family reunification. If you are Spanish, it is the separate regime for family members of Spanish nationals. If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, it is the EU family residence card. The three routes have different sponsors, different evidence and a different order of steps, and a file prepared for the wrong one has to start again. This guide sets them side by side for couples, and explains the two pieces of evidence that sink most partner files: proof of the relationship and the housing report.
Bring your family to Barcelona
The reunification application at the Oficina de Extranjería and your family’s consulate file.
450 € + VAT with one family member, 100 € + VAT for each additional one.
Prices exclude VAT. Spanish VAT (21 %) applies to clients resident in the EU. If you live outside the EU, our advisory services are not subject to Spanish VAT; we confirm it in your quote.
Three situations, three routes
| You are… | Your partner applies through… | Who files first | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| A non-EU national living in Spain with a residence permit | Family reunification | You, as sponsor | Oficina de Extranjería in Spain, then your partner’s consulate for the visa |
| A Spanish citizen | Residence for family members of Spanish nationals | Your partner | Usually from Spain; from abroad with a visa when needed |
| An EU, EEA or Swiss citizen living in Spain | EU family residence card | Your partner | In Spain, with any entry visa their nationality requires |
| A Blue Card holder or other Law 14/2013 profile | The family procedure of your own route | Together with you | Same channel as your own application |
Nationality of the partner does not change the route. What changes it is the passport and permit of the person already in Spain. A Colombian married to a Spaniard and a Colombian married to a Moroccan resident follow entirely different procedures.
If you are a foreign resident: family reunification
You are the one who applies. Your file is judged on you: how long you have held residence, how long your permit still has to run, your income, your housing and your health cover. Your partner’s own file comes later, when they collect the visa at the Spanish consulate for their place of residence with the authorisation already granted. After entering, they have one month to apply for their TIE card.
A reunified spouse or partner receives a residence permit that already lets them work, both as an employee and as self-employed, with no separate work procedure. That is one of the main practical differences from reunifying a parent.
Two limits apply to couples. Only one spouse can be reunified, even where the country of origin recognises more than one marriage. And a partner cannot be reunified as a stable partner if either of you is still married to someone else.
Our family reunification visa service runs both halves: your file in Barcelona and your partner’s consulate appointment. If your parents are the ones joining you, the conditions are much stricter; see bringing your parents to Spain.
If you are Spanish: a separate, more generous regime
When the person in Spain is a Spanish national, the partner is not “reunified”. They apply for residence as a family member of a Spanish citizen, a regime with its own rules and normally a longer permit. For couples, the practical points are:
- A marriage celebrated abroad is proved with the foreign marriage certificate, apostilled or legalised and translated by a sworn translator. Where one of you is Spanish, it also has to be registered in the Spanish Civil Registry, through the consulate if you married outside Spain.
- A registered partnership is evidenced by the registration certificate from the registry where it was recorded.
- An unregistered stable partnership needs proof of the relationship, which is where most of these files are decided.
The regime, who it covers and how long the permit lasts are explained in our guide to family residence for relatives of Spanish citizens.
If you are an EU citizen: the EU family card
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens living in Spain bring their spouse or registered partner under EU free-movement rules, not under the Spanish immigration regulation. You first need your own EU registration certificate, which shows you are exercising your rights in Spain. Your partner then applies for the family residence card of an EU citizen. If their nationality requires a visa to enter the Schengen area, they enter with a short-stay visa and apply once here.
Proving the relationship: what actually persuades
For married couples, the marriage certificate does most of the work, apostilled or legalised and with a sworn translation into Spanish. For partners, the relationship has to be shown, not declared. The evidence that carries weight is evidence created over time and by third parties:
- A shared address: a joint lease, utility bills or a town-hall registration showing both names.
- Children in common, with their birth certificates.
- Joint finances: a shared bank account, insurance naming the other as beneficiary, regular transfers.
- Travel together: flight bookings and entry stamps across a period of time.
- Communication over time, used as support rather than as the main proof.
What does not persuade: a sworn statement by the couple alone, a batch of photographs taken in the same week, or documents all dated a few days before the application. Where the regulation measures the relationship by a period of cohabitation, the dates on your evidence are what prove it, so gaps matter.
The housing report, explained
For family reunification, the sponsor needs an informe de vivienda adecuada, a report stating that the home is suitable for the family who will live there. In Barcelona it is issued by the Ajuntament. It is not about ownership: a rented flat qualifies. What it looks at is the size of the home, its condition and how many people will live in it.
Three practical points:
- Request it early. It usually requires an appointment and sometimes a visit, and in Barcelona it is often the slowest step in the whole file.
- Count everyone. The report is issued for a specific number of occupants. If a child arrives later, or a flatmate lives there, it has to reflect that.
- Keep the lease in order. The report is tied to your address and your right to live there. A lease about to expire weakens the file.
This report is a family reunification requirement. Partners of Spanish or EU citizens do not normally need it.
A sensible order of steps
- Establish the route from your status, not your partner’s.
- If you are a foreign resident, check your own permit leaves enough time before filing.
- Start the foreign documents first: marriage or partnership certificate, birth certificates, criminal records, apostilles and sworn translations.
- Request the housing report in parallel if it applies.
- Gather the relationship evidence as a timeline, not a pile.
- Plan your partner’s first month: TIE card and empadronamiento at your shared address.
Frequently asked questions
Can my partner come as a tourist and apply from Spain? Under family reunification, no: the visa is collected abroad after your application is granted. Partners of Spanish and EU citizens can usually apply from Spain.
Do we have to be married? No. Registered and stable partnerships qualify on all three routes, but they need stronger evidence than a marriage.
Can my partner work once they arrive? A reunified spouse or partner can work with no extra step. Partners of Spanish and EU citizens can also work once they hold their card.
The conditions, the means required and the documents each route accepts change and can differ by consulate and town hall, so we confirm the ones in force for your case before you file.
