Family reunification for non EU workers in Spain: requirements and timing
Family reunification sits in Ley Organica 4/2000 and in RD 1155/2024, which lets the reunified spouse work in Spain without a separate work authorisation.
A non EU worker legally resident in Spain can bring family over under articles 16 to 19 of Ley Organica 4/2000 (BOE-A-2000-544), implemented by the regulation approved in Real Decreto 1155/2024. The worker must show income measured against the IPREM and adequate housing, and apply to the Oficina de Extranjería of the province where they live.
Who can sponsor, and who can come
The sponsor needs prior legal residence in Spain and must already have obtained the renewal of their authorisation, or at least applied for it, before requesting reunification. A worker who has just arrived on a first employed residence and work authorisation does not sponsor on day one. The law wants the administrative footing settled first.
Real Decreto 1155/2024 widened the circle of eligible family members compared with the 2011 regulation. It covers the spouse and also a registered or otherwise properly evidenced unmarried partner, children of the sponsor or the spouse who are minors or who have a disability that prevents them providing for themselves, minors under the sponsor's legal guardianship, and ascendants in the cases the regulation sets out.
The change with the most practical weight for an employer is a different one. Under the 2024 regulation the reunified spouse may work without applying for a separate work authorisation. A family arriving with two adults arrives with two possible payrolls, and in sectors short of staff that second hire is usually placed in the same district where the sponsor already works.
Income, housing and the two files
The Oficina de Extranjería checks two material proofs. The first is sufficient income, calculated against the IPREM and scaled to the number of people in the household, evidenced in practice by payslips, the employment contract and the vida laboral record. A full time permanent contract on the metal or hospitality collective agreement usually carries a spouse and one child. For a family of four the same salary falls short, and the file is refused on that ground alone.
The second is adequate housing, evidenced by a report issued by the autonomous community or, where it has delegated the task, by the town hall of the address. The report assesses the number of rooms, the occupancy and habitability conditions, and it is not issued the same day. In municipalities under housing pressure, several weeks of waiting for this one piece is normal, and it is where most files stall. An employer housing its workforce in shared flats should know that such accommodation rarely passes the report.
After that the procedure runs through two windows in sequence. The family member's residence authorisation is applied for at the Oficina de Extranjería of the sponsor's province. Once granted, the family member applies for the reunification residence visa at the Spanish consulate in the country of origin, and only then travels. In Spain, they have one month to book the fingerprint appointment and collect the Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero.
| Stage | Where it is filed | Document obtained | Who acts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authorisation application | Oficina de Extranjería of the province | Residence authorisation decision | The sponsor in Spain |
| Housing report | Autonomous community or town hall | Adequate housing report | The sponsor, before applying |
| Visa | Spanish consulate in the country of origin | Reunification residence visa | The family member |
| Registration in Spain | Oficina de Extranjería and police station | Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero | The family member, within one month |
Why this matters to the employer
Reunification is the cheapest retention lever a company with non EU staff has, and almost none of them use it. A Nepalese or Colombian welder eighteen months into a posting alone compares offers from other countries over a hundred euro difference. The same worker with his family in the same municipality, a child in school and a spouse working, does not move for that difference. Second year turnover is where the employer loses the selection, training and qualification recognition already paid for.
What a company can do without building a legal department is concrete. Issue the employment certificate and the vida laboral quickly when the worker asks. Check whether the contracted hours and pay clear the IPREM threshold for the real family size, because an increase in hours sometimes settles an entire file. And do not house a prospective sponsor in a shared flat that the housing report will reject.
The sponsor's own route in is set out in the employed residence and work permit procedure, consular timings in Spanish consulate processing times, and the associated fees in the cost of hiring a foreign worker in Spain.
Plan reunification alongside the worker's own renewal rather than after it, since both rest on the same documents.
Keep reading
All posts →What a UK sponsor licence costs an employer in 2026
The Home Office charges £1,682 for a medium or large Worker sponsor licence, £525 per Certificate of Sponsorship and £1,320 a year in skills charge.
UK skilled worker salary thresholds and going rates 2026
The Home Office sets an hourly floor of GBP 17.13 under Table 1 of Appendix Skilled Occupations and GBP 12.82 under Table 2, each alongside the going rate.