Reunification of families of Spanish legal residents

You have probably heard of the process of family reunification. This process is the one by which a foreigner who has resided legally in Spain for one year may request a residency and work permit for their family members who are still in their country of origin.

You can only reunify with:

• Your spouse (husband or wife)
• Your domestic partner (pareja de hecho)
• Your children or those of your spouse as long as they are under 18 years of age.
• Your parents or those of your spouse as long as they are over 65. For this particular case, you must be in Spain 5 to be able to reunify them.

What do I have to prove?

You need to prove that you have the adequate housing and enough economic resources because the person you reunify will live with you and you need to support them economically.

Remember also that relatives must be outside of Spain for this route, otherwise this will not be the procedure to follow to legalize your family.

What are the steps?

First, you need to make sure that you have lived in Spain for at least one year, also that you have housing and economic resources. Once you have those requirements you can move on with the process.

You have to go to the Extranjería office for this process, and you need to submit all the documentation in person. We highly recommend you get advice from a lawyer to make sure you do not make any mistakes.

You will need to meet a list of requirements, including having no criminal records, among others.

The deadline to resolve the request is preferential which means it is resolved in a shorter period of time: right now, approximately 3 months. In case you are denied the reunification of your family, you can file an appeal against that resolution.

We can help you with your immigration processes, if you are interested in this or any other process, you can call us at +34 911 270 920 or send us an email to info@sternaabogados.com to schedule an appointment with one of our lawyers.