Family member of Spanish citizen
New category introduced by Royal Decree 1155/2024 (RELOEX), in force since May 2025. Residence card for family members of Spanish citizens: spouse, registered partner, children up to age 26, and dependent ascendants. Work authorization is granted from the date of application.
💡 RELOEX update May 2025: the Spanish citizen initiates the application process. The family member is entitled to work from the date the application is submitted. Spouses may apply for Spanish citizenship after 1 year of residence.
📋 Authorizes both employed and self-employed work from the very day the application is filed.
Step by step
The Spanish citizen initiates the application at the Immigration Office (Oficina de Extranjería) in their province of residence.
Mistakes that get applications refused
⚠️ Applying under the EU family member regime (EX-19) instead of the Spanish citizen family member regime (EX-24)
Consecuencia: Incorrect processing — the benefits of immediate work authorization and accelerated citizenship eligibility are lost
Solución: If your relative is a SPANISH citizen, always use Form EX-24 (family member of a Spanish citizen), not EX-19 (family member of an EU citizen). These are two distinct legal regimes.
⚠️ Believing that ONLY the Spanish citizen may file the application
Consecuencia: Giving up on filing when you could. Art. 97.1 assigns the role depending on where each of you is, and in two of the three cases it is not the Spaniard who files.
Solución: Check your case. If the foreign relative is in their country of origin and the Spaniard is in Spain, the Spaniard files (art. 97.1.a). If BOTH are outside Spain, the foreign relative files at the consulate (art. 97.1.b). And if both are already in Spain, "either of the two" may file (art. 97.1.c).
⚠️ Applying for children over age 26 without proving dependency
Consecuencia: Refusal
Solución: RELOEX extends eligibility to children up to age 26. For those over 26, financial dependency on the Spanish citizen must be demonstrated.
⚠️ Failure to prove cohabitation with the Spanish citizen
Consecuencia: Refusal or request for additional documentation
Solución: Register at the same address as the Spanish citizen (empadronamiento) before submitting the application.
Who can apply
- Art. 94.1 RD 1155/2024 opens the route to nine cases, and the opening line sets one condition for all of them — "provided they live together".
- Spouse over eighteen, with no annulment or divorce and no marriage of convenience (art. 94.1.a)
- Unmarried partner over eighteen registered in a public register (b), or a duly proven stable partner (art. 94.1.c)
- Children — theirs or their spouse's or partner's — UNDER TWENTY-SIX, or older if dependent, provided they live together or intend to and are not married nor have formed their own family unit (art. 94.1.d)
- Direct FIRST-DEGREE ascendants, theirs or their spouse's or partner's (e). Grandparents are second degree and do NOT qualify here; only under art. 94.1.g), as the single relative up to the second degree caring for a Spaniard with a recognised degree of dependency
- The father, mother or guardian of a minor of Spanish nationality, "provided the applicant has the minor in their care and lives with them or is up to date with their obligations towards them" (art. 94.1.f). The clause adding "this relationship must have been established under Spanish law" is VOID since Supreme Court judgment 868/2026 of July 8 (ECLI:ES:TS:2026:3113, ruling Second.b) — a guardianship set up by a competent foreign authority is recognized, without prejudice to the Administration checking that it does not breach public order or the best interests of the child
- Sons and daughters "whose father or mother is or was Spanish by origin" (h) — this one with NO age limit
What this route gives you
- Living and working, employed or self-employed, "without any additional administrative formality" while the conditions hold and you are above the minimum working age (art. 95.1), anywhere in Spain and in any occupation or sector
- Provisional work FROM THE APPLICATION, but in one case only — art. 97.1.c), where the foreign relative and the Spaniard are both already in Spain. There, once the application is admitted, provisional leave to live and work is granted, and "once the final authorisation is granted, its effects shall be backdated to the moment the application was filed" (art. 97.5). If the relative is still abroad, this does not apply
- No income requirement on the family member
- A 5-year card — with a caveat worth knowing: the authorisation lasts five years "or for the period the Spanish family member is expected to reside in Spain, if shorter" (art. 95.3)
- You may later exercise your own right to family reunification (art. 95.2)
- Who files depends on the case, and it is not always the Spaniard — they file it if the relative is in their country of origin (art. 97.1.a); the foreign relative files it if both are outside Spain (art. 97.1.b); and if both are already in Spain, "either of the two" may file (art. 97.1.c)
Legal basis
RD 1155/2024 (Immigration Regulation), arts. 94 to 99 — the chapter devoted to family members of Spanish nationals. Careful, the confusion is easy: art. 17 of LO 4/2000 is NOT this regime, it is the one for relatives reunified by a FOREIGN resident, a different procedure.
Checked against the consolidated text on 2026-09-15.
Official sources
Última actualización: 2026-09-02