Residence card of a family member of a Union citizen
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Unión Europea as of 2025-05-01[2][3] |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Residence card of a family member of a Union citizen as of 2025-05-01[2][3] The instrument is the Spanish implementation of the residence card of Directive 2004/38/EC, whose official English name this is. |
| Legal basis | Real Decreto 240/2007, de 16 de febrero, art. 8, Directiva 2004/38/CE y Orden PRE/1490/2012, de 9 de julio as of 2025-05-01[2][3] The ministry sheet cites Orden PRE/1490/2012 as dictating rules for the application of art. 7 of 'Real Decreto 240/2004', which is a typographical error for Real Decreto 240/2007 as printed on the page. |
| Instrument type | residence card as of 2025-05-01[2][3] |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | 5 years as of 2025-05-01[2][3] Art. 8.5: the card is valid for five years from the date of issue, or for the Union citizen's expected period of residence where that is shorter than five years. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | matches the sponsor's permit |
| Renewable | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Work rights | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value as of 2025-05-01[2] |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source |
|---|
Requirements
| Who can sponsor | citizen as of 2025-05-01[2][3] |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, unmarried partner, minor child, adult dependent child, parent, other dependent as of 2025-05-01[3] |
| Sponsor income requirement | Not established from a qualifying source The rule is stated but no figure is published on any page retrieved. The Union citizen must be an employed or self-employed worker in Spain, or have sufficient resources for themselves and their family not to become a burden on Spanish social assistance during their period of residence together with public or private health insurance, or be a student enrolled at a recognised or publicly funded centre. Sufficiency of resources is treated as evidenced where the resources exceed the amount fixed each year by the State Budget Law for entitlement to a non-contributory benefit. That amount is not published on any source retrieved, so no value is recorded and no reference figure is registered. |
Process
| Where to apply from | in-country only as of 2025-05-01[2][3] The application must be filed within three months of entry into Spain, in person by the family member, at the Oficina de Extranjería of the province where they intend to reside or, failing that, at the corresponding police station. A receipt is issued immediately and is sufficient to evidence lawful stay until the card is delivered. Form EX-19, or EX-24 where the sponsor is a Spanish national who has not exercised free movement. No consular route is described. |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | 3 months as of 2025-05-01[2][3] Art. 8.4 of Real Decreto 240/2007: the card must be issued within three months of the application. A favourable decision has retroactive effect from the evidenced date of entry into Spain as a family member of a Union citizen. No administrative-silence consequence is stated: a search of the consolidated decree for 'silencio' returned no occurrences. |
| Fees |
Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Not applicable This route IS the family instrument for relatives of Union citizens; the per-route family attribute does not apply to it. |
|---|
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
Profile benefits
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Verification
| Sources cited | 3 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 3 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-05-01 |
| Newest as-of date | 2025-06-16 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-11 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Orden PJC/617/2025, de 13 de junio, por la que se establece el importe de las tasas por tramitación de autorizaciones administrativas y documentos de identidad en materia de inmigración y extranjería
Boletín Oficial del Estado · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Published 2025-06-16 · Accessed 2026-08-06 - [2] Real Decreto 240/2007, de 16 de febrero, sobre entrada, libre circulación y residencia en España de ciudadanos de los Estados miembros de la UE y de otros Estados parte en el Acuerdo sobre el EEE (texto consolidado)
Boletín Oficial del Estado · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2015-11-09 · Accessed 2026-08-06 - [3] Hoja 62 – Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Unión Europea
Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2025-05-01 · Accessed 2026-08-06