If you live in Portugal legally, you can bring your close family to live with you, and each of them receives their own residence permit. The route is called family reunification, or reagrupamento familiar in Portuguese, and it is open to almost any legal resident, not only investors or Golden Visa holders. A student, a worker, a retiree on a passive-income visa, and an investor can all use it.
Here is the plain-English version. Once you hold a valid Portuguese residence permit, you can apply to bring your spouse or registered partner, your minor children, your dependent adult children who are still studying, and your dependent parents. The legal basis is the immigration law, Lei 23/2007, and the application is handled by AIMA, the immigration authority that replaced SEF. Family members already abroad collect a residence visa at a Portuguese consulate before they travel.
This page is the standalone family reunification route, the one any legal resident uses. If your goal is specifically to add dependents to a Golden Visa investment application, that has its own rules and is covered in Golden Visa family members. Here we cover who qualifies, what you as the sponsor must show, the documents, and the timeline.
What is the family reunification visa?
Family reunification is the legal route that lets someone already living in Portugal bring qualifying relatives to live with them, with each relative receiving a residence permit of their own. It is a right attached to your residence status, not a favor, and it applies whether your own permit comes from work, study, a passive-income (D7) visa, a digital-nomad (D8) visa, or a Golden Visa.
The phrase "family reunification visa" really describes two linked steps. The reunification is authorized by AIMA inside Portugal under the immigration law, Lei 23/2007 (diariodarepublica.pt). If the relative is still abroad, that authorization lets them collect a residence visa for family reunification at the Portuguese consulate that serves them (vistos.mne.gov.pt) before flying in. If the relative is already legally in Portugal, no consular visa is needed, and the process runs entirely through AIMA.
One point clears up most of the confusion: the resident in Portugal is the sponsor, and the sponsor opens the application. Family members do not apply on their own from abroad; the sponsor applies for them, and the consular step follows the approval.
Getting help with this Bringing your family to Portugal means proving your relationship to each relative, showing you can house and support them, and threading a two-part process across AIMA in Portugal and a consulate abroad. An organized sponsor with clean, apostilled civil documents can assemble the file alone. In practice, the advantage of the assisted route is getting every certificate correctly apostilled and translated the first time and keeping the AIMA and consulate steps in sync, which is where reunification files most often stall. Roots Global prepares and files reunification applications and manages the AIMA stage for clients, remotely where possible.
Who qualifies as a family member?
The people you can bring are your spouse or registered partner, your minor children, your dependent adult children who are still in education, and your dependent parents, plus minor siblings in your legal care. That list is set by the immigration law and is broader than many countries allow, because it reaches upward to parents, not only down to children.
Here is the citable summary. Under Lei 23/2007, reagrupamento familiar covers the spouse or de facto partner (união de facto), minor or incapacitated children of the couple or of either spouse, dependent adult children who are unmarried and studying, dependent first-degree relatives in the direct ascending line (parents of the resident or the spouse), and minor siblings under the resident's guardianship (diariodarepublica.pt).
The condition attached to each category matters as much as the category itself. Children over 18 qualify only while they are unmarried and genuinely dependent, usually shown by enrollment in full-time education. Parents qualify only where they are financially dependent on you or your spouse. A de facto partner must evidence the relationship, typically with a registered união de facto or proof of a durable partnership. The table below sets each member type against its condition and the usual evidence.
| Family member | Condition | Usual evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse | Valid marriage | Marriage certificate (apostilled, translated) |
| De facto partner | Durable partnership / união de facto | Registered união de facto or proof of cohabitation |
| Minor children | Under 18 | Birth certificate showing the parent link |
| Dependent adult children | Unmarried, in education, dependent | Enrollment proof plus evidence of dependency |
| Dependent parents | Financially dependent on sponsor or spouse | Birth certificate link plus proof of dependency |
| Minor siblings | Minors under the sponsor's legal guardianship | Guardianship or custody order |
What does the sponsor need to qualify?
As the sponsor, you need three things: a valid Portuguese residence permit of your own, somewhere adequate for the family to live, and enough income to support them without relying on the state. None of these is unusual, but each has to be documented cleanly, and weak accommodation or income evidence is the most common reason a file is delayed.
Stated as a summary: the sponsor must hold a valid residence permit and must evidence adequate accommodation for the family and sufficient means of subsistence to maintain them (diariodarepublica.pt).
Accommodation means a home genuinely large enough for the household, evidenced by a lease or a property deed. Means of subsistence means a stable income that covers the enlarged family, assessed against a reference tied to the Portuguese social-support index and scaled up for each additional person. In practice, a salaried job, pension income, or documented passive income all work; the assessment is about stability and sufficiency, not a single fixed number.
One recent shift is worth stating plainly, as real-world context rather than a settled rule. Portugal moved in 2025 to tighten family reunification, and a reform passed in late 2025 introduced a minimum prior-residence period for the sponsor, on the order of two years, before some applications can be made. Importantly, couples with a minor child are generally exempt from that waiting period, so families with young children are least affected. Earlier versions of the package were challenged on constitutional grounds, and the finer procedural conditions were still settling into 2026. The core of the route, who qualifies and what the sponsor must show, has held; because the prior-residence conditions and their exemptions are the part still moving, confirming the current rule for your situation when you apply is the sensible step.
How do you apply for family reunification?
You apply through AIMA as the sponsor, submit the civil documents proving each relationship plus your accommodation and income evidence, and then, for any relative abroad, that person collects a residence visa at the Portuguese consulate before traveling. The order matters: the reunification is authorized first, and the consular visa comes after.
The document set is where families should spend their attention, because every foreign civil certificate has to be legalized and translated. Here is the core checklist:
- Your valid Portuguese residence permit and passport.
- Proof of the family relationship for each member: marriage certificate, birth certificates, or união de facto registration.
- Evidence of accommodation: a lease or property deed for a home adequate for the household.
- Evidence of means: employment contract and payslips, pension statements, or proof of stable passive income.
- For dependent adult children: proof of enrollment in education and of financial dependency.
- For dependent parents: proof of the parent link and of financial dependency.
- Each foreign document apostilled and accompanied by a certified Portuguese translation.
- The relative's own passport and, after AIMA authorization, their consular residence visa application (vistos.mne.gov.pt).
Keep the general route separate from the Golden Visa case in your planning. If you are an investor including dependents inside the investment application itself, the rules and document flow differ, and that scenario is covered in Golden Visa family members. The relocation logistics that surround any move, shipping, timing, and the consular appointment, sit in how to move to Portugal from the USA.
How long does it take, and what happens next?
The reunification decision is meant to come within a few months of a complete filing, but the real-world wait runs longer because AIMA appointment and card-issuance backlogs push the practical timeline past the legal maximum. It is fairer to plan for that than to promise a date. The depth on processing times and how to manage the appointment stage sits in moving to Portugal from the USA. Once approved and holding their residence permit, the relative gets a permit that runs for the same period as your own, renews alongside it, and lets them live, work, and study in Portugal.
What the family members gain once they hold their permits is substantial. Each reunited member receives a residence permit tied to the sponsor's, with the right to work as an employee or on their own account and to study, on the same footing as the sponsor . After a period, a member can also apply for a permit independent of the sponsor's.
Their path to permanent residency and citizenship then follows the resident's own clock. Broadly, five years of legal residence leads to permanent residency, and citizenship comes later, so a spouse or child who arrives through reunification builds the same timeline as any other resident. The year-by-year detail, including the 2026 change to the citizenship clock, is in Golden Visa citizenship path.
What should American families know?
American sponsors and American family members use the same route as everyone else, with two practical wrinkles: US civil documents must be apostilled, and US worldwide tax filing continues after the move. Neither is a barrier, but both need handling early.
On documents, every US-issued birth certificate, marriage certificate, and similar record needs an apostille from the Secretary of State of the issuing US state, then a certified Portuguese translation, before AIMA or a consulate will accept it (travel.state.gov). Build in time, because state turnaround varies and a document apostilled in the wrong state is a common, avoidable setback.
On tax, a US citizen who moves to Portugal keeps filing a US return, because the United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live (irs.gov). Reunification does not change that. The cross-border detail, including how the US and Portuguese systems interact, is in US taxes for Americans in Portugal. Which consulate serves your US state, and what you do there, is in Portuguese consulates in the USA.
See also
- Golden Visa family members for adding dependents to a Golden Visa investment application specifically.
- Golden Visa citizenship path for how a reunited family member's timeline to permanent residency and citizenship works.
- moving to Portugal from the USA for the full relocation picture and the AIMA processing stage.
- how to move to Portugal from the USA for the step-by-step relocation checklist.
- Portuguese consulates in the USA for which consulate serves your state and how to book.
Frequently asked questions
Who can I bring on a family reunification visa? Your spouse or registered de facto partner, your minor children, your dependent adult children who are unmarried and still in education, your dependent parents, and minor siblings in your legal care. The categories are set by the immigration law, Lei 23/2007 (diariodarepublica.pt). Each adult-child, parent, and sibling case turns on genuine dependency, which you evidence with the relevant documents.
Can I bring my parents to Portugal? Yes, if they are financially dependent on you or your spouse. Dependent first-degree relatives in the ascending line, meaning your parents or your spouse's parents, are an eligible category under reagrupamento familiar. You evidence the parent link with birth certificates and the dependency with financial proof. This upward reach is one reason the Portuguese route is broader than many countries' family visas.
How long does family reunification take? The decision is meant to come within a few months of a complete filing, but the practical wait is usually longer because of the AIMA appointment and card-issuance backlog. It is fairer to plan for a longer timeline than the legal maximum than to expect a fixed date. Keeping the file complete and correctly translated from the start is the single biggest thing within your control.
Can my spouse work in Portugal? Yes. A family member admitted through reunification receives a residence permit that allows them to work, as an employee or self-employed, and to study, on the same footing as the sponsor . The right to work applies once the permit is issued, not while the application is still pending.
Is Golden Visa family inclusion different? Yes. Adding dependents inside a Golden Visa investment application follows the Golden Visa's own rules and document flow, which differ from the standalone reunification route this page describes. If you are an investor, the family inclusion detail is covered in Golden Visa family members. If you are any other kind of legal resident, the reagrupamento familiar route here is the one that applies.
Do my family members need to apply from abroad or from Portugal? It depends on where they are. A relative already legally in Portugal is added through AIMA without a consular visa. A relative abroad is authorized first by AIMA, and then collects a residence visa for family reunification at the Portuguese consulate that serves them (vistos.mne.gov.pt) before traveling. The sponsor in Portugal opens the application in both cases.
Do US documents need an apostille? Yes. Every US civil document, birth certificate, marriage certificate, and similar record, needs an apostille from the Secretary of State of the issuing US state, plus a certified Portuguese translation, before it is accepted (travel.state.gov). Apostille the document in the state that issued it, and allow time, because turnaround varies by state.
Does bringing my family change my path to citizenship? No. Each reunited family member builds their own residence clock from the date their permit is issued, and that clock follows the standard rules: broadly five years to permanent residency, then longer to citizenship. Your own timeline is unaffected by sponsoring them. The year-by-year detail is set out in Golden Visa citizenship path.
Disclaimer
This article is for general information only and is not legal or tax advice. Immigration and tax rules change, and Portugal's family reunification procedure was under revision through 2025 and 2026, so verify current requirements with the relevant authority or a qualified professional before acting. Last updated: July 2026.
About the author
Vanessa Mororó is Head of Legal, Portugal at Roots Global, where she advises HNWI and US cross-border clients on Portuguese residency, immigration, and family reunification matters, including bringing spouses, children, and dependent parents to Portugal. Connect on LinkedIn.
