Reagrupación Familiar: how to bring your family to Spain

If you're a non-EU national legally resident in Spain and want to bring close family to live with you, the route is reagrupación familiar (family reunification). It's different from the EU-family card — that one is for relatives of Spanish/EU citizens; reagrupación is for relatives of non-EU residents like you.

Who can sponsor, and who qualifies

You can usually sponsor once you hold a residence permit and are renewing it (typically after about a year of legal residence). Family members you can bring generally include:

• Your spouse or registered partner (one at a time).
• Your children under 18, or adult children who are dependent.
• Dependent parents over 65 (in defined circumstances).

What you must prove

• Adequate housing — via an informe de disponibilidad de vivienda (housing report) from your town hall or police.
• Sufficient, stable economic means to support the family (assessed against the IPREM, scaling with family size).
• Continued legal residence and, usually, public or private health cover.

The application is filed on form EX-02. Once approved, your family member collects a visa at the Spanish consulate in their country and travels to Spain to finalise their TIE.

The two things that sink reagrupación applications are a weak housing report and means that fall just under the IPREM threshold — fix both before you file.

Reagrupación or the EU-family card?

If the relative you're joining is a Spanish or EU citizen, use the EU-family card instead — it's lighter on requirements. Reagrupación is specifically for the family of non-EU residents. Pathway's free diagnostic tells you which applies and fills the EX-02.