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The essentials
People looking for the EU family member residence card almost never have trouble with the form. They have trouble with the evidence. The Immigration Office (Oficina de Extranjería, the office that handles residence applications for foreigners) does not ask whether you love your partner. It asks for a document that fits one of the categories in Royal Decree 240/2007, and if it does not fit, the file goes nowhere. So before requesting an appointment, the first thing we do is decide how you will prove the relationship: marriage, a partnership registered in a public register, or a stable partnership that is not registered.
In Madrid this decision has a local twist. Many couples think of registering in the Community of Madrid register of de facto unions (pareja de hecho), but the regional law requires both of you to be registered as living (empadronados) at the same address in the region for twelve uninterrupted months before you can apply to register (arts. 1 and 3 of Law 11/2001). If you have just arrived, that door is not open yet and other options have to be weighed.
Our team of immigration lawyers also reviews the other side of the file: the EU citizen’s own right of residence, because yours depends on it. If what you want is to bring a relative who lives abroad to Spain and you are not a European citizen, the procedure is family reunification, with different rules.
The EU family member residence card accepts three ways of proving a couple relationship. Each is shown with different documents and carries its own risks.
Is your partner from another EU country and do you want to live together in Spain?
There are only a few figures, but each one affects when you apply and how long you are covered.
3 months
from your arrival in Spain to submit the application; the receipt proves your legal stay until the card is handed over
source: art. 8.2 RD 240/2007
3 months
to issue the card from the application; if the outcome is favourable, your residence counts from the proven date of arrival
source: art. 8.4 RD 240/2007
5 years
of validity, unless the European citizen plans to live here for a shorter time
source: art. 8.5 RD 240/2007
1 year
of continuous cohabitation as a couple which, as a rule, proves an unregistered stable partnership
source: art. 2 bis.4.b RD 240/2007
The procedure is personal: the family member signs and submits the application in person. This is how we organise it with you.
1
We check whether your relative is from another EU Member State, the EEA or Switzerland, or is Spanish, because in that case the procedure is the authorisation under the Immigration Regulation, not the EU family member card.
2
We gather the evidence of the marriage or partnership and check translations, apostilles and dates.
3
We check their registration certificate and that they work, have their own business, study, or have sufficient means and insurance.
4
You submit form EX-19 in person at the Immigration Office of your province (for example, Madrid) or, failing that, at the relevant police station, and you are given the receipt.
5
Once the decision is favourable, you pay the fee, go to the National Police station to have your fingerprints taken and collect the card.
6
We answer the request for documents or prepare the appeal; if needed, we take it to the Contentious-Administrative Courts (Juzgados de lo Contencioso-Administrativo) of your province.
Your card depends on the EU citizen meeting article 7 of RD 240/2007: working as an employee or self-employed, studying with health insurance and resources, or having sufficient financial resources not to become a burden on social assistance together with public or private health insurance equivalent to cover under the National Health System. These means can be proved by any means admitted in law, for example certified cheques or a bank certificate of the credit available on credit cards. If their registration certificate does not reflect their current situation, we spot it beforehand.
Since 20 May 2025, the spouse or partner of a Spaniard no longer applies for the EU family member card but for the temporary residence authorisation for family members of Spanish nationals, using form EX-24 (arts. 93 to 99 of the Immigration Regulation). For a stable partner it requires twelve months of cohabitation, unless there are children in common. Anyone who already held a valid card as a family member of a Spaniard keeps it as long as they meet the new conditions, without submitting another application (third transitional provision of RD 1155/2024).
As legal categories, the following may apply for the card: descendants of the European citizen or of their spouse or registered partner who are under twenty-one, those over that age who are dependent on them, and dependent ascendants. You must provide documents proving their status as a dependent family member, not just the family relationship. Other relatives may apply if in their country of origin they lived with the EU citizen or were dependent on them, or if for serious health reasons or disability the Union citizen must provide their personal care (art. 2 bis RD 240/2007).
The sooner you tell us, the more room we have
With these documents we prepare the application and spot what is missing before the appointment:
The deadline runs from the day you enter Spain, not from the day you get an appointment. It is best to have the file ready before you travel or in your first weeks.
Joint registration at the same address (padrón) helps, but the Immigration Office looks at the relationship as a whole. Photos, trips, shared accounts or messages over time strengthen the evidence of cohabitation.
This is the most repeated mistake since May 2025. The regime for family members of Spaniards differs in requirements, deadlines and application form, and filing through the wrong route delays everything.
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2
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It is the usual name for the residence card for family members of a Union citizen. It is issued to non-European family members of a citizen of another EU Member State, of the European Economic Area or of Switzerland who live with them in Spain for more than three months.
Registration does not give you residence by itself. It lets you prove the relationship, but your European partner must also have the right to reside in Spain and the relationship must be genuine. If you are not registered, you can prove a stable partnership with one year of continuous cohabitation or children in common.
The law sets the same deadline as for marriage: the card must be issued within three months of the application. In the meantime, the receipt proves that you are in a legal situation.
Five years from issue, or the planned period of residence of the European citizen if shorter. After five years of continuous legal residence you can apply for the permanent residence card.
Yes. As the spouse or partner of the European citizen you can work as an employee or self-employed on the same terms as Spaniards, without applying for a separate work authorisation.
You must report it. You keep your residence if the marriage or registered partnership lasted at least three years up to the start of the proceedings, with at least one of them in Spain; if you are awarded custody of the European citizen’s children, by agreement or court decision; if you have a recognised right of access to a minor child who lives in Spain; or if other particularly difficult circumstances listed in the rules apply (art. 9.4 RD 240/2007).
Both are residence cards, but they belong to different regimes. The EU family member card documents a right that arises from European Union law and your relationship with the European citizen; the general regime documents authorisations such as social roots (arraigo) or family reunification, with different requirements.
Since May 2025, the residence authorisation for family members of Spanish nationals requires living with the Spaniard and proving the relationship. A stable partner must prove twelve months of cohabitation, and children can qualify up to the age of twenty-six. It is a different procedure from the EU family member card.
We have six offices in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Málaga, Córdoba and Palma de Mallorca) and we also work with clients online.
