Family visa in Spain

• The route is for a non-EU, non-EEA, non-Swiss relative of a Spanish citizen who joins or accompanies that citizen in Spain. It is not for relatives of foreign residents, who use family reunification instead.
• Eligible relatives are a spouse aged 18 or over (only one spouse), a registered partner, a stable unregistered partner, children under 26 or older ones who are dependent or disabled, and a Spanish citizen’s parents who depend on them or have humanitarian grounds. Other categories include carers and relatives proved to be in the citizen’s care.
• A stable unregistered partner must show at least twelve continuous months of life together like a marriage, inside or outside Spain. The twelve months are not needed if you have a child together and the relationship continues.
• Spouses and partners must live together. A spouse who marries a citizen with earlier marriages qualifies only if those earlier marriages ended through a procedure that settled the former spouse’s position on housing, support and dependent children.
• The official regulation text carries a note that a Supreme Court judgment of 8 July 2026 annulled part of article 94.1(f), on parents or guardians of a Spanish minor, and part of article 98.1, on automatic refusal for criminal records. Check the current wording before you apply.
• Children under 18 of only one partner need the other parent’s notarised consent unless sole custody is clear. Children over 26 must prove they are unmarried, have no family unit of their own and are dependent or disabled.

Sources: Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text), Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Australia (consular section). Checked 16 October 2026.

• The requirements listed for this route in the regulation cover passports, proof of the family tie, proof of dependence where it applies, and proof of a stable partnership. They list no income or savings test.
• The route for relatives of foreign residents is different: the sponsor must show regular income of 150% of the IPREM for a household of two, which on the 2026 IPREM is about €900 a month. To be safe, have more than €1,000 a month. Add 50%, about €300, for each extra person.
• For relatives of foreign residents the sponsor also needs adequate housing and health insurance. The Ottawa page for that visa lists no income figure.

Sources: Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text), Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026.

• You bring the national visa form, a recent photo, and a passport valid for at least one year, with two blank pages, not issued more than ten years ago. Canberra counts the year from your intended entry date.
• The Spanish citizen supplies a full copy of a valid passport or a DNI, and a signed declaration that no other spouse or partner lives with them in Spain. Washington adds an up-to-date certificate of residence if the citizen lives in its district.
• Proof of the tie depends on who you are: a marriage certificate, a partnership registration from an EU, EEA or Swiss registry, evidence of twelve months of life together, birth certificates for children and parents, or proof of dependence. Washington asks that a marriage abroad be registered in the Spanish Civil Registry.
• If the Spanish citizen is not in Spain and the application is made abroad, you also file the residence authorisation form EX24, showing an address in Spain.
• A criminal record certificate, a medical certificate, and proof you live legally in the consular district are required, with foreign documents apostilled or legalised and translated by a sworn translator. The medical certificate says you have no disease with serious public-health implications under the 2005 International Health Regulations.

Sources: Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Embassy of Spain in Australia (consular section), Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text). Checked 16 October 2026.

• There are two tracks. If the Spanish citizen is in Spain, they ask the immigration office of their province for your authorisation first, and you apply for the visa within one month of the day after the favourable decision is notified.
• If both of you are abroad, you file the visa application with the EX24 form, which carries the residence request. The immigration office has two months, and if it has not answered by then the request counts as refused; the consulate then issues the visa within 15 days.
• The consulates we read give 15 days to decide once the residence decision is in. Washington says other authorities can take up to two months from when it forwards the file, and Canberra says the same.
• Washington applications are by appointment at the BLS visa centre, Ottawa takes only in-person applications after an appointment, and Canberra books appointments by email. Ottawa gives visa pickup on Friday mornings, and Canberra allows two months to collect it.
• The visa is valid for one year. Within one month of entering Spain you apply for the foreigner identity card (TIE) at the police station in the province that processed your authorisation.
• A refusal is in writing. You can ask the consulate to reconsider within one month, or go to the High Court of Justice of Madrid within two months.

Sources: Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text), Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Embassy of Spain in Australia (consular section). Checked 16 October 2026.

• Washington, Ottawa and Canberra each say the visa for family members of Spanish citizens is free of charge. Ottawa adds that if you choose an outside visa application centre you pay its service fee.
• The Australian Federal Police national police check costs A$57, or A$114 with fingerprints. The RCMP federal fee for a Canadian check is C$25 per check, plus any local fingerprinting fee. The New Zealand Ministry of Justice does not charge for a copy of your own record.

Sources: Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Embassy of Spain in Australia (consular section), Australian Federal Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, New Zealand Ministry of Justice. Checked 16 October 2026.

• A permit granted lasts five years, or the period the Spanish relative expects to live in Spain if that is shorter. If you are outside Spain when it is granted, it takes effect from the day you enter.
• A permit shorter than five years can be renewed for five years, or the relative’s expected stay if shorter, if you file in the two months before it ends or up to three months after, though a penalty procedure can follow. Filing in time keeps the old permit valid.
• The permit lets you live and work in Spain, employed or self-employed, anywhere and in any sector, without a further procedure. Spain’s employment test is not applied.
• You must report a change of address, nationality or marital status within two months. The permit can be withdrawn if married or family life ends, or if the Spanish citizen marries or forms a stable relationship with someone else.
• If a marriage or registered or stable partnership ends, you can apply for independent residence if it lasted at least three years before the court case or the registration was cancelled, with at least one of those years in Spain. A Spanish relative’s death does not end your right if you lived in Spain beforehand.

Sources: Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text). Checked 16 October 2026.

• Long-term residence needs five years of legal, continuous residence in Spain. Absences of up to six months in a row do not break continuity if they total no more than ten months in the five years (eighteen for work-related absences).
• A five-year permit therefore runs about as long as the qualifying period. The article we read does not say how time spent under this permit is counted, so ask the immigration office before you rely on it.

Sources: Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text). Checked 16 October 2026.

• Your tax position is separate from your permit and from your relative’s nationality. You are a Spanish tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year, counting short absences unless you prove tax residence elsewhere, or if your main base of economic activities or interests is in Spain.
• A tax resident pays Spanish personal income tax (IRPF) on income from all sources, subject to treaties. Because this permit allows work, earnings from a job in Spain fall under the same rules.
• The wealth tax has a general allowance of €700,000 for residents, but regions set their own. The Tax Agency’s manual for 2025 lists €500,000 in Catalonia and €1,000,000 in the Valencian Community.
• Tax residents in Spain must file form 720, an information return on accounts, securities, insurance and property held abroad, between 1 January and 31 March of the following year. The 2013 text we read was later changed, so check the current thresholds.

Sources: Agencia Tributaria (Spanish Tax Agency), Boletín Oficial del Estado. Checked 16 October 2026.

• Digital nomad visa in Spain
• Retirement visa in Spain
• Work permit in Spain

• Visas in Spain
• Spain

1. Residence visa for family members of Spanish citizens, Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C.. Checked 16 October 2026. Written for residents of D.C., Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. No date on the page. The visa is free of charge; valid one year; decision up to 2 months after the file is forwarded.
2. Status table: Apostille Convention of 5 October 1961, Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Checked 16 October 2026. In force for Spain from 25 September 1978, the United States from 15 October 1981, Canada from 11 January 2024, Australia from 16 March 1995 and New Zealand from 22 November 2001.
3. US citizens abroad: filing requirements, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 4 October 2026.
4. Foreign earned income exclusion limit, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 4 October 2026. Tax year 2026 figure (USD 132,900).
5. Spain tax treaty documents, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 4 October 2026. Lists the 1990 treaty and the protocol amending it (2013); the treaty text itself was not reviewed.
6. Totalization agreement with Spain, US Social Security Administration. Checked 4 October 2026.
7. Visa for family members of Spanish nationals, Ottawa, Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026. In Spanish. For Ottawa and Gatineau; elsewhere Toronto or Montreal. The visa is free; 15 days to decide; valid 365 days.
8. Criminal record checks: processing times and fees, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Checked 16 October 2026. Federal fee 25 Canadian dollars per check, collected with any local fingerprinting fee; about 3 business days with no match, up to about 120 business days if manual processing is needed.
9. Leaving Canada, Canada Revenue Agency. Checked 4 October 2026. Canadian residents leaving Canada.
10. Tax treaties in force, Department of Finance Canada. Checked 4 October 2026. Canada–Spain convention signed 23 November 1976; protocol signed 18 November 2014.
11. Canada–Spain social security convention, Government of Canada. Checked 4 October 2026. In force since 1 January 1988; protocol since 1 May 1997.
12. Visa for family members of Spanish citizens, Canberra, Embassy of Spain in Australia (consular section). Checked 16 October 2026. Covers the ACT and Queanbeyan; others use Sydney or Melbourne. The visa is free; 15 days to decide, up to about two months if the residence authorisation is pending; valid 365 days.
13. National police checks, Australian Federal Police. Checked 16 October 2026. Fee 57 Australian dollars (114 with fingerprints); most checks posted within 48 hours, fingerprint checks 15 to 30 business days; the page does not mention apostilles.
14. Treaties in force, Australian Treasury. Checked 4 October 2026. Table last updated 24 March 2026; Spain listed as in force.
15. Australia–Spain tax treaty text, Boletín Oficial del Estado. Checked 4 October 2026. Signed 24 March 1992; in force 10 December 1992.
16. Australia–Spain social security agreement, Boletín Oficial del Estado. Checked 4 October 2026. Signed 31 January 2002; in force 1 January 2003.
17. Get your own criminal record, New Zealand Ministry of Justice. Checked 16 October 2026. Free; the Ministry aims to answer within 20 working days; the page says some countries want the record apostilled, which the Department of Internal Affairs does.
18. Authentication Unit: document requirements, New Zealand Government (govt.nz). Checked 16 October 2026. The unit apostilles New Zealand documents; the page lists no fee and does not name criminal record checks.
19. New Zealand–Spain tax treaty, Inland Revenue (New Zealand), Tax Policy. Checked 4 October 2026. In force; signed 28 July 2005, effective in Spain generally from 1 January 2007.
20. Social security agreements, Work and Income (Ministry of Social Development, New Zealand). Checked 4 October 2026. Spain not listed.
21. Real Decreto 1155/2024, Regulation of Organic Law 4/2000: articles 38, 41 and 93 to 99 (family of Spanish nationals), 66 to 68 (family reunification) and 176 (long-term residence-EU), Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text). Checked 16 October 2026. In Spanish. In force from 20 May 2025; the consolidated text read on 16 October 2026 was updated on 22 September 2026 and notes a Supreme Court judgment of 8 July 2026 (BOE-A-2026-19632) that annulled parts of article 94.1(f) and article 98.1.
22. Visa for family reunification, general regime, Ottawa, Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026. In Spanish. For relatives of a foreign resident of Spain, not of a Spanish citizen. The page lists no sponsor income figure.
23. Non-working (non-lucrative) residency visa, Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C.. Checked 16 October 2026. Used only for the 2026 IPREM: EUR 600 a month (EUR 7,200 a year).
24. When an individual is resident in Spain, Agencia Tributaria (Spanish Tax Agency). Checked 15 October 2026. In Spanish; page updated 21 July 2026.
25. Wealth tax manual 2025: minimum exempt amount for people with a personal obligation to pay (residents), Agencia Tributaria (Spanish Tax Agency). Checked 16 October 2026. In Spanish; page updated 17 March 2026. General minimum EUR 700,000, with regional differences.
26. Orden HAP/72/2013, form 720 (information return on assets held abroad), Boletín Oficial del Estado. Checked 16 October 2026. Original 2013 text, later changed by Orden HFP/1180/2023; filing period 1 January to 31 March of the following year. The consolidated text was not read.