Family Reunification Visas: Your 2025 Ultimate Guide

What are Family Reunification Visas?

Family reunification visas let you bring your family with you to the new country you’ve chosen to relocate to.

This way, your family doesn’t have to be separated through the investment immigration process.

In the case of European investment visas, you, as the EU resident, can act as a sponsor or a petitioner.

Since a visa like the Greece Golden Visa or the Portugal D2 Visa already require a substantial amount of capital, you become automatically entitled to request your family to join you in your new country.

The family reunification visa is usually issued abroad first (national long-stay visa), followed by a residency permit.

Your family members – and the number of applicants and who can come with you depend on the country – are the beneficiaries of the family reunification visa.

Who can I include on a Family Reunification Visa?

Typically, you can include:

• Spouse or partner (including de facto partnership if recognized by local law);
  
  
• Minor or dependent children of the sponsor or of the couple;
  
  
• In some cases, dependent parents of sponsor or spouse;

The exact number, proofs of dependency, and recognition of partnerships vary by country. Always check your new country’s criteria.

Benefits of Family Reunification

• Keeping Your Family Together: Reunite with your spouse, children, and parents in your new country, reducing long separations and giving children stability.
  
  
• Stronger Well-Being: Living with your loved ones supports mental health, social ties, and faster integration.
  
  
• Faster Social Integration. With family your present, you'll be more prone to engage more in language, school, and community life.
  
  
• Path to Citizenship: In many countries, reunification residence can lead to permanent residence and later citizenship.
  
  
• Education for Children. Access to local schools and pathways to higher education is a major benefit to ensure your children grow healthily.
  
  
• Healthcare and Safety Net: After residency is granted, families typically access public healthcare and social support. 

Family Reunification Visas: Eligibility Criteria & Documentation

Bear in mind that, despite being something you’re entitled to, family reunification is still a different process than your own investment visa application.

Depending on the country, you may be able to start the family reunification process in tandem – but not always.

If you’re preparing to bring your family to your new country, here’s what you need to keep in mind to ensure a successful application.

Proof of Residency or Citizenship

You must be a resident, or in the process of becoming a resident, to register your family for the reunification visa.

Proof of Blood Ties

You must prove that the members you’re bringing to your new country are your family. Think marriage and birth certificates. This must be recognized by your new country.

Financial Requirements

You must prove to the authorities that you can support yourself, as well as your family members, without having to rely on social welfare systems.

Proof of Housing

In addition to financial proof, you may be asked to provide proof of adequate housing for you and your family. Think either a rental contract or a deed signifying property ownership.

Health Insurance

Your family will also need to be covered by private health insurance before arriving in the country.

How to Apply for a Family Reunification Visa: A Step-by-Step Guide

It’s important to note that a family reunification visa is not a shortcut to residency.

It’s simply a follow-up for eligible relatives of someone who already holds a residency permit.

In practice, that means you first secure your own residence in the country, for example with a Golden Visa. Only then can you sponsor your spouse, children, or in some cases parents.

0. Get Your Own Residency First

Before you can envision a brighter future for your family, you’ll first need to secure a residency permit for yourself.

Portugal’s Golden Visa & D2 Visa, or the Greece Golden Visa, are common investment visas that let you acquire residency. Once you have either secured, you’ll have the legal basis for your family’s application.

1. Check Eligibility Criteria

The next step should be confirming if you meet all the previously referred criteria, allowing you to safely proceed with beginning the process to bring your family to your new country.

Confirm if your residency permit is valid, you meet local income and accommodation thresholds, and you have no disqualifying criminal issues.

2. Gather Documents

Following the previous step, you’ll need to gather documentation that verifies the eligibility criteria. These include, but are not limited to:

• Proof of your residency status – permit, decision letter;
  
  
• Marriage and birth certificates proving family relationships;
  
  
• Income and tax evidence that meets the national minimums set by each country;
  
  
• Proof of adequate property – if required;
  
  
• Health insurance for arriving family until they enter the public system.

3. File Your Family’s Application

With everything in line, you should proceed with filing the application with your new country’s respective immigration authority, or the consulate where you started your visa application.

The authority first recognizes the familial tie and your conditions as a sponsor, then the consulate issues an entry visa.

4. Fees Payment

As with your investment visa, there’ll also be, most likely, associated government fees for the family reunification visas, and later on, for the residency cards.

Keep this in mind as you proceed, as there’ll be deadlines.

5. Biometrics and Bureaucracy

A step you should already be familiar with, as your family members will need to do the same, which is provide biometrics.

Depending on the country, they may also be required to attend an interivew, or complete security and background checks.

6. Processing Times

Indirectly involved with the last step, this is perhaps the longest step.

It also depends on the current pending applications a government may have.

Ultimately, the timeline until your family gets their visas will vary by country.

7. Decision and Residency Permits

If approved, your family receives a national entry visa, travels, and then receives residence permits that usually align with your permit validity and renewals.

Best Family Reunification Visas

Family Reunification Visa Portugal

Portugal has recently updated its family reunification law. Under Lei n.º 61/2025, family reunification is now governed by stricter and more structured rules.

However, a sponsor, already holding legal residence in Portugal - through a D2 Entrepreneur Visa, Golden Visa or other another valid permit – can still request family reunification through AIMA.

Once AIMA issues a favorable decision, family members residing abroad apply for a national visa for family reunification (Visto de Residência para Reagrupamento Familiar) at the Portuguese consulate.

After entry into Portugal, they exchange that visa for a residence permit.

Who Is Eligible?

According to the updated legal framework, eligible family members include:

• Spouse or partner in a recognised union (união de facto), provided both are over 18.
  
  
• Minor or dependent children, including adopted children.
  
  
• Dependent parents, where dependency is proven under Portuguese law.

AIMA’s official guidance confirms the acceptance of de facto partnerships and recognises all relationships covered by Articles 98 and 99 of Lei n.º 23/2007, as amended by Lei n.º 61/2025.

Key Requirements

• Proof of family ties, such as marriage, birth, or adoption certificates.
  
  
• Adequate accommodation, owned or rented, meeting national safety and health standards.
  
  
• Sufficient means of subsistence to support all family members, without relying on social benefits.
  
  
• Health coverage for the arriving relative until integration into the public system.
  
  
• Clean criminal record certificates from all countries of residence, duly legalized and translated.

The renewal of the family reunification permit now depends on proof of continued compliance with these standards, including integration measures and financial independence.

Process Outline and Timing

• AIMA Application: The resident sponsor files the reunification request with AIMA in Portugal.
  
  
• Consular Visa: Once approved, the family member abroad applies for a family reunification visa at a Portuguese consulate.
  
  
• Arrival and Residence Card: Upon entry, the family member exchanges the visa for a residence permit issued by AIMA.

Under the new law, AIMA must decide within nine months, extendable only once in exceptional cases.

For spouses who cohabited for at least 18 months before entry, or where minors/dependents are involved, no extension applies — the nine-month limit is final.

Costs, Fees and Administrative Notes

Cost-wise, besides the required investment visa amount, there'll also be associated fees with getting a Portugal D6 Visa for your family.

There'll be administrative fees from AIMA for processing and the issuance of the residency cards.

You should also anticipate costs for apostilles, certified translations, and document legalization.

Family Reunification Visa Greece

The sponsor, already holding a Greece Golden Visa, petitions for their eligible relatives to apply for a National Type D for family reunification visas.

The relatives will be able to do it at the Greek consulate where they reside.

After entry, they convert the visa to a residency permit as family members in Greece.

Who is Eligible?

• Spouse or partner (where the partnership is legally recognized);
  
  
• Minor children of the sponsor or the couple;
  
  
• In specific cases, dependent adult children or dependent parents, subject to proof of dependency and approval.

Key Requirements 

• Proof of the family relationship (marriage certificate, birth/adoption certificates, legalised and translated);
  
  
• Proof the sponsor has adequate accommodation and sufficient resources;
  
  
• Health insurance for the arriving family member until local coverage applies;
  
  
• Clean criminal record from countries of residence, legalized and translated.

Process Outline and Timing

Consular filing by the family member abroad for the Type D family reunification visa.

Entry to Greece, then filing for the family member residence permit with the regional immigration office.

Validity typically mirrors the sponsor’s permit, including renewals. 

Costs, Fees and Administrative Notes

In addition to the Golden Visa real estate purchase, expect consular fees, legalization and translation costs.

There will be be associated government fees for the issuance of the residency cards.

How Investment Visa Can Help You

Family reunification is only possible after you hold legal residence.

That means securing your own status first, for example through a Portugal Golden Visa or a Greece Golden Visa, or another qualifying residence permit.

Once you have that in place, we structure and file the family case so your spouse, children, and eligible parents can join you.

What We Do For You

• Plan Your Investment: We help you pick the right residency program first, then map the family reunification path for your country of choice.
  
  
• Eligibility Screening: confirm who qualifies as family, what proofs are needed, and the income and accommodation thresholds.
  
  
• Document Check: marriage and birth certificates, legalisations, apostilles, certified translations, health insurance, police clearances.
  
  
• Filing and Follow-Up: application forms, portal uploads, fee payments, biometrics scheduling, and timeline management.
  
  
• Property and Investment Support: for Golden Visa routes, we validate eligibility before you commit funds and align your investment with family goals.

Tell us where you plan to live and who will join you.

We will confirm the residency route you should secure first, then deliver a step-by-step family reunification plan with documents, costs, and dates.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a family reunification visa?

• A residence route that lets eligible relatives join a sponsor who already holds legal residence in the country.
  
  
• It is different from the Golden Visa, which gives residence to the investor.

2. Do I need a Golden Visa first to bring my family?

• You must hold a valid residence permit before reunification.
  
  
• A Golden Visa is one way to get that status. Once you are a resident, your spouse, children, and sometimes parents can apply for family reunification.

3. Can Greece Golden Visa holders use family reunification?

• Yes. Investors holding the Greece Golden Visa can include spouse/partner, minor children, and in many cases parents as family members.
  
  
• These relatives receive family member residence permits tied to the investor’s status.

4. Who qualifies as family for Portugal family reunification?

• Typically spouse or recognised partner, minor or dependent children, and in some cases dependent parents. Portugal processes this through AIMA and issues residence cards to the approved family members.

5. Who qualifies as family for Greece family reunification?

• Spouse or recognised partner, minor children, and in some cases dependent adult children or parents, subject to proof of dependency. Family members apply for a Type D national visa, then a residence permit in Greece.

6. How is a family reunification visa different from the Golden Visa in Portugal and Greece?

• Golden Visa grants the investor’s residence through an eligible investment.
  
  
• Family reunification gives residence to the investor’s relatives based on the investor’s existing status. They are separate legal residency pathways.

7. Can Portugal Golden Visa or Greece Golden Visa holders include parents?

• Often yes, but it'a case specific. Portugal can accept dependent parents. Greece commonly accepts parents under the investor family inclusion rules. Proof of dependency or legal support may be required.

8. What documents are usually needed for family reunification visas?

• Proof of family ties (marriage and birth certificates), sponsor’s residence permit, proof of income and accommodation, health insurance for arriving relatives, and clean criminal record certificates.
  
  
• Legalization and certified translations are often required.

9. Can family members work and study after reunification?

• Children can attend public schools. Adult family members often gain the right to work once their residence card is issued, subject to country rules and card type.

10. Does a family reunification visa lead to permanent residence or citizenship?

• Usually yes, if residence is maintained and legal conditions are met.
  
  
• Over time, family members can qualify for permanent residence and later apply for citizenship through naturalization according to national law.