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Applying for Family Reunification in Portugal

The AIMA immigration agency process, the legal framework, the spouse, children, and parent routes, and the documents that lead to a residence card.

Applying for Family Reunification in Portugal

Last verified: September 2026.

Who this is for

  • Non-EU residents with a Portuguese residence permit who want a spouse, partner, children, or parents to join them.
  • Non-EU family members, abroad or already legally in Portugal, who will be joining a resident.

Not for you if: you are an EU citizen, or the family member of one. Read Registering as an EU Citizen Resident in Portugal (CRUE) instead.

Updated September 2026. Since October 2025, most residents must hold their permit for two years before applying, AIMA has nine months to decide, and joining family must take Portuguese language and civics training.

Family reunification (reagrupamento familiar) lets a non-EU resident bring close family to live legally in Portugal. You, the resident, apply to AIMA, the immigration agency. If AIMA approves, family abroad get a residence visa at a Portuguese consulate, then a residence card in Portugal. Most residents must first have held their permit for two years, but minor children can be brought at any time. AIMA's fees are about €247 per person at the counter. The law gives AIMA nine months to decide.

Who can apply

You are the sponsor. You need a valid Portuguese residence permit. Since the 2025 reform, the permit must usually be at least two years old when you apply.

The waiting time is shorter or does not apply in these cases:

  • 15 months if you want to bring a spouse or partner who lived with you for at least 18 months just before you moved to Portugal.
  • No wait for minor children, or adult children who cannot look after themselves, who depend on you.
  • No wait for a spouse or partner who is the other parent of a minor child you are bringing.
  • No wait for the family of a highly qualified, teaching, or cultural worker, an investor (Golden Visa), or an EU Blue Card holder.
  • Refugees have their own, more flexible rules and do not have to meet the housing and income tests.

The Minister responsible for migration can shorten or waive the wait in exceptional cases. The decision looks at how strong your family ties are and how well you have settled.

D7, D8, and ordinary work permit holders are covered by the two-year rule unless one of the exceptions above fits. If your family has not left home yet, they can apply for residence visas alongside you when you apply for your own visa. That avoids the wait altogether. The Visas and Residency in Portugal guide covers the main visas.

Which family members qualify

The law lists these relatives:

  • Your spouse. You both must be at least 18, and the marriage must be valid and recognised under Portuguese law.
  • Your partner in a de facto union (união de facto), proven under Portuguese law. AIMA asks for evidence of at least two years together. See Living Together Unmarried in Portugal (União de Facto).
  • Minor children, or children who cannot look after themselves, of the couple or of either partner. Adopted children count if the adoption is recognised in Portugal.
  • Adult children who are single, depend on you, and study at a school or university in Portugal. Golden Visa holders can also bring dependent adult children studying elsewhere.
  • Your parents, or your spouse's parents, if they depend on you financially.
  • Minor brothers and sisters under your legal guardianship, where Portugal recognises the guardianship decision.

Same-sex spouses and partners qualify on the same terms. To bring a child of only one parent, you need the other parent's written consent or a court decision giving you custody.

What you must show: housing and income

Two conditions apply to every sponsor except refugees.

Housing. You need a home you own or rent that is normal for a family of your size in the region. It must meet basic safety and hygiene standards.

Income. You need enough money to support everyone without state benefits. The reference is the monthly minimum wage, which is €920 in 2026:

  • You: 100%, so €920.
  • Each extra adult: 50%, so €460.
  • Each child under 18, or dependent adult child: 30%, so €276.

A couple with one child therefore needs at least €1,656 a month, net of Social Security contributions. AIMA accepts pay slips, service contracts with receipts, pensions, investment income, or savings. See the AIMA means of subsistence page in Sources for the full list.

The documents you need

AIMA asks for the same core file whether your family is abroad or in Portugal.

From you, the sponsor:

  • Your residence permit.
  • A signed declaration of your address, saying whether you own, rent, or otherwise live in the home.
  • If you own the home, a land registry certificate (certidão de registo predial) or its online access code.
  • If you rent, a declaration from the landlord or host.
  • Proof of income, such as your last three months of pay slips and your employment contract.
  • The application form (Modelo 1), and a statement of responsibility (Modelo 4) where it applies.

For each family member:

  • A certified copy of their passport. If they are already in Portugal, the valid passport and proof of legal entry.
  • Proof of the family link: marriage certificate, birth certificate, adoption decision, guardianship decision, or evidence of your union.
  • A criminal record certificate from their country of nationality, or from the country where they lived for more than a year before coming.
  • For dependent parents or adult children: proof of financial dependence, such as money transfers. For adult children, proof of enrolment in Portugal too.
  • For a child of only one partner: the other parent's authorisation, authenticated by a Portuguese consulate, or the custody decision.

Every foreign document needs an apostille or consular legalisation. See Getting an Apostille or Consular Legalisation in Portugal. Documents not in Portuguese need a certified translation, for example from a Portuguese notary or consulate. Getting a Certified Translation in Portugal explains the options. Start early: gathering these papers often takes six to eight weeks.

How to apply, step by step

If your family is outside Portugal

  1. Book an appointment at any AIMA office (Loja AIMA) and hand in the application in person. AIMA can pass it to the office for your area.
  2. Pay the application fee and wait for AIMA's decision.
  3. Once AIMA approves, each family member applies for a residence visa for family reunification at the Portuguese consulate where they live.
  4. The consulate decides within 60 days. The visa allows two entries and a stay of four months.
  5. Your family travels to Portugal. The consulate usually books their AIMA appointment when it issues the visa.
  6. At that appointment, AIMA takes biometrics and grants the residence permit. The card arrives by post.

If your family is already in Portugal

This route is open only to relatives covered by the "no wait" exceptions, such as minor children. They must have entered Portugal legally and still be here legally when you apply.

  1. Book an appointment and apply at an AIMA office. The family member must attend in person for biometrics.
  2. Alternatively, use the AIMA online portal. At the time of writing it takes only applications for a household that includes at least one minor. Check the AIMA site before you start, because the criteria change.
  3. AIMA decides and, if it approves, issues the residence card.

Online applications get a 25% discount on AIMA fees.

What it costs

AIMA's fees, from its table last updated 26 February 2026, per family member:

FeeAt the counterOnline
Receiving and assessing the application€133.00€99.80
Granting the temporary residence permit€114.30€85.80

The consular visa fee is €110 for a spouse or parent. Children joining a resident do not pay it.

Budget separately for apostilles, certified translations, criminal record certificates, and travel.

How long it takes

The law now gives AIMA nine months to decide. For sponsors who waited the full two years (or 15 months), that deadline cannot be extended. For the "no wait" cases, AIMA may extend it once by another nine months for complex files, and must tell you.

The consulate then has 60 days for the visa. In practice, allow a year or more from application to residence card. Incomplete files are the most common cause of delay, so check every document before you apply.

After your family arrives

The residence permit. Family members get a permit lasting as long as yours. Relatives of a permanent resident get a two-year permit, renewable for three years at a time.

Integration courses. After the permit is granted, joining family members must take Portuguese language training and a course on Portugal's constitutional principles and values. Children must attend school. Renewal of their permit depends on completing these steps, unless the failure was not their fault. The detailed rules are still being set by regulation. The free state courses in Free Portuguese Courses for Foreigners in Portugal (PLA) are a sensible start.

Renewals. At renewal, AIMA checks again that the family is supported without state benefits. See Renewing Your Residence Permit with AIMA in Portugal.

Your own permit. After two years, family members can get a permit in their own right while the family ties continue. A spouse or partner of more than five years gets one straight away. It can also come early after divorce, widowhood, or domestic violence.

Children born in Portugal do not go through reunification. You register the birth and apply for their residence permit directly.

If you are refused

AIMA can refuse if you do not meet the housing or income conditions. It can also refuse on public order, security, or public health grounds, or if the relative is banned from entering. Before refusing, it must weigh the strength of your family ties and your time in Portugal.

The refusal letter must give reasons and tell you how to challenge it. You can take the decision to the administrative court. If your family is already in Portugal and the refusal is only about housing or income, they can stay while the court decides.

A consular visa refusal after AIMA approval can be challenged through the consulate's complaint procedure. For family reunification cases, there is no fee for this.

If AIMA does not decide in time

If the nine-month deadline passes without a decision:

  1. Write to AIMA with your case number and ask for a decision.
  2. Complain to the Ombudsman (Provedor de Justiça). It is free and can prompt action on individual files.
  3. Ask the administrative court to order AIMA to decide. Getting an Urgent Court Order against the State in Portugal explains how. You will usually need a lawyer.

The route to citizenship

Time on a family reunification permit counts as legal residence. Since 19 May 2026, citizenship by naturalisation needs seven years of legal residence for citizens of Portuguese-speaking (CPLP) countries and ten years for others. Time spent waiting for AIMA no longer counts. See Getting Portuguese Citizenship by Naturalisation.

Sources

This guide is written from official Portuguese and EU sources and, for prices and contact details, the providers' own websites.

Last verified September 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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