Portugal Family Reunification Visa for Americans and Britons

Portugal gives you two ways to bring a spouse, children or parents. Relatives can apply for their residence visas at the same time as yours, or, once your own residence permit has been valid for at least two years, you can ask AIMA (the immigration agency) to approve a family reunification, after which your relatives collect a family reunification visa at a Portuguese consulate. This guide sits under the overview of residence routes and follows the law and the official pages as they read on 18 October 2026.

It is an overview, not legal advice. The Foreigners Law (Lei n.º 23/2007) and the pages of AIMA and the foreign ministry decide your case, and the consulate or AIMA store that handles your file decides what it needs.

Which route applies to you?

The first row is what the law describes in article 58: the residence visa also serves to accompany family members of the person who requests it, and the requests can be made together. The foreign ministry’s list of visa types names both “Acompanhamento de familiar titular de visto de residência” (when the whole family travels from the home country) and the family reunification visa for relatives of a legal resident that AIMA has approved.

The ministry adds a note on the reunification visa: it is for relatives of foreign citizens who live legally in Portugal. It is not for relatives of EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, nor for relatives of United Kingdom nationals covered by the Withdrawal Agreement. For relatives of Britons covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, the starting point is AIMA’s Brexit page, which gives a dedicated BREXIT line. Our guide for Britons after Brexit explains the difference between those Britons and those who move now.

Who counts as family?

The law (articles 99 and 100) and the ministry list the following relatives of the resident:

Two limits are worth knowing. For a resident whose permit is for study, an unpaid professional internship or volunteering, the law counts only the spouse, the children and the adopted minors. And for a child of only one spouse, reunification depends on the other parent’s authorization or on a decision of the competent authority that entrusted the child to the resident.

What conditions must you meet?

Article 101 says you must have:

• housing, proved to be owned or rented, considered normal for a comparable family in the same region and meeting the general safety and health standards defined by ministerial order
• means of subsistence enough to support every member of the family, without recourse to social support, as defined by ministerial order

On the two-year rule, article 98 says the holder of a residence permit valid for at least two years has the right to family reunification with the relatives listed in articles 99 and 100, provided they lived with the holder or depend on the holder, whether the family ties came before or after the holder entered Portugal. The same article says that period is 15 months for a spouse or equivalent who lived with the holder for at least 18 months immediately before the holder’s entry into Portugal.

The waiting period does not apply to dependent minors or incapable persons, to a spouse who is, with the holder, the parent or adopter of a minor or incapable child, or to relatives of holders of permits granted under articles 90, 90-A (the investment route, covered in our golden visa guide) or 121-A. The minister responsible for migration can also waive or shorten it in exceptional, duly reasoned cases.

The foreign ministry’s reunification page, read on 18 October 2026, still says only that a holder of a valid residence permit has the right to family reunification; the law as amended on 22 October 2025 asks for a permit valid for at least two years.

Portaria n.º 1563/2007, which the Diário da República shows as in force, sets the means of subsistence by reference to the guaranteed monthly minimum wage, net of social security contributions, counted at 100% for the first adult, 50% for each further adult and 30% for each child under 18 and each adult child who is a dependant. Its article 9 says that a foreigner who applies for family reunification must have, in the household, means of subsistence calculated that way and assured for not less than 12 months. Article 101, as amended by Law 61/2025, now says the housing standards and the means of subsistence are defined by ministerial order of the ministers responsible for migration and housing, and for migration and social security. We did not find a housing standard in Portaria 1563/2007, which deals only with means of subsistence, so the page does not tell us what the housing standard is.

For a visa to accompany your own application, the ministry asks for proof of the family ties and proof of stable, regular resources enough for the applicant and the accompanying relatives, for the requested stay or for 12 months, whichever is shorter. The ministry measures means of subsistence against the 2026 guaranteed monthly minimum wage of 920 euros, net of social security contributions, counted at 100% for the first adult, 50% for each further adult and 30% for each child under 18 and each adult dependent child. Our guide to the retiree and passive income visa applies the same method to a household.

How do you bring family from abroad through AIMA?

1. Ask AIMA to approve the reunification. You book an appointment and hand in the request in person, with the form signed by you, at any AIMA store. AIMA’s page lists your residence permit, a certified copy of the relative’s passport, authenticated proof of the family ties, a statement on your honor giving your address with proof of your right to use the home (property registry certificate for an owner, a landlord’s statement for a tenant), proof of means of subsistence, and the relative’s criminal record certificate, authenticated.
2. Wait for the decision. The law gives AIMA nine months. It may interview you and your relatives and make other checks, and for an unmarried partner it weighs factors such as a child in common, previous cohabitation or registration of the union.
3. Receive the notification. The regulation says you are notified of the approval within eight days and told that your relatives must go to the embassy or consulate for their area within 90 days to request the residence visa. Missing that deadline makes the decision lapse.
4. Your relatives request the visa. The ministry asks for the notice of approval delivered by AIMA, proof of the identity of the relatives, and, for minors or incapable persons, a travel authorization from the person with parental authority or guardianship.
5. The consulate issues it. The law says the visa is issued within 10 days after the request is submitted at the competent post, and that the consular post does not ask again for documents AIMA already sent. Issuing the visa comes with the automatic attribution of the tax, social security and national health service numbers.
6. Your relatives travel and ask for the permit. After entering Portugal with the visa, the relative goes to AIMA to ask for the residence permit under article 107.

Documents written in a foreign language need a translation made by one of the bodies named in the Notary Code: a Portuguese notary, the Portuguese consulate of the country where the document was issued, or that country’s consulate in Portugal.

Documents for specific relatives

AIMA’s pages list, depending on the relative, an authenticated marriage certificate or birth certificate; a medical report or court declaration for an incapable adult; the adoption decision; for an adult child, proof of economic dependence and of enrollment in Portugal; the written authorization of the non-resident parent authenticated by a Portuguese consular authority, or the decision entrusting the child to you or your spouse; proof of economic dependence and family ties for a parent, such as transfers made to the home country; the guardianship decision with the decision recognizing it; and for a partner, documents showing the union has lasted more than two years.

For minors who do not travel with both parents, the ministry asks for a travel authorization from the other parent or both, with a recognized signature, legalized by a Portuguese consular officer or apostilled under the Hague Convention, or a court decision. Only one authorization is accepted per minor.

What if your relative is already in Portugal?

Article 103, paragraph 2, lets the resident ask AIMA for the residence of relatives who entered and remain in Portugal at the date of the request, for the relatives of the cases in paragraph 3 of article 98. AIMA’s page for this case is still titled with article 98, paragraph 2, the numbering before Law 61/2025 of 22 October 2025, and does not mention this limit. The same page for this case lists the same documents as above, plus a valid passport or travel document and proof of lawful entry. The request can be handed in by the relative or by you, but the relative must always go to an AIMA store for biometric data when the request is made.

What does it cost?

The ministry’s fee for processing a national visa application is 110 euros. The ministry’s family reunification page says only a spouse or ascendants must pay it, and that visas granted to descendants of permit holders under the reunification rules are exempt, as are children up to six years old on its general list.

AIMA’s published fee table (Portaria n.º 307/2023) sets 133.00 euros for receiving and analyzing a request for a temporary residence permit, a line that names the family reunification permit, and 114.30 euros for granting a temporary permit. The table’s second column, headed in-person and digital service, shows 99.80 and 85.80 euros: point XIV applies a 25% reduction to in-person fees until these services are offered through a digital channel. The table also has a separate line for families of holders of the investment permit. Check the table on the day you apply.

What permit do your relatives get?

Under article 107, a relative who holds a family reunification visa, or is in Portugal with an approved request, receives a residence permit lasting as long as yours. For relatives of a permanent residence holder, the permit is valid for two years and renewable for successive periods of three years.

After two years, as long as the family ties remain, or at any time if you have minor children living in Portugal, the relatives are entitled to an autonomous permit of the same duration as yours. In exceptional cases, such as legal separation, divorce, widowhood, the death of a parent or child, prosecution for domestic violence or a child reaching majority, an autonomous permit can be granted earlier, valid for two years and renewable for three. A spouse who has been married or in a de facto union with the resident for more than five years receives an autonomous first permit.

Article 101 also requires relatives to follow integration measures after the permit is granted: Portuguese language training, training on constitutional principles and values, and compulsory schooling for minors. Renewal depends on showing compliance, unless the failure is not their fault, and the minister can exempt them on humanitarian grounds.

Can the request be refused, and what then?

Article 106 lets AIMA refuse a request when the conditions are not met, when the relative is barred from entering or flagged in the Schengen Information System, or when the relative’s presence threatens public order, security or health. Before refusing, it must weigh the nature and strength of the family ties, the person’s length of residence in Portugal and ties to the home country. The decision is notified with its grounds and the right to challenge it in the administrative courts. Article 108 allows cancellation of a permit obtained through a marriage, union or adoption whose only purpose was to enter or live in the country.

What changed in the law most recently?

The consolidated Foreigners Law shows its latest amendment as Law 62/2026 of 10 September 2026, which amended articles 106 and 108 among those read for this guide. The rules on the two-year wait, the family definitions, the conditions, the request, the examination and the deadline (articles 98, 99, 101, 103, 104 and 105) were last amended by Law 61/2025 of 22 October 2025. AIMA’s pages did not show a date of their own, so if a figure here differs from what your AIMA store or consulate tells you, ask them which version they apply.

More guides on this site: proof of accommodation for the visa application; registering with the SNS; enrolling a child in school; moving to Portugal with children.

Where to go next

For the step before all this, read how the national visa application works from the US or from the UK. Our guide to renting a home covers the housing proof.

Related guides: the AIMA residence permit process after arrival, what an AIMA receipt or appointment letter lets you do and renewing a residence permit.

Related guides: apostilles, translations and certified documents, proving your address in Portugal.

Official pages read for this guide, all on 18 October 2026: the Foreigners Law (Lei n.º 23/2007, articles 58, 64, 65 and 98 to 108) and the Regulation Decreto Regulamentar n.º 84/2007 (articles 67 and 68); the AIMA pages on family reunification with a relative outside and inside Portugal and AIMA’s fee table; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ national visa pages on family reunification, types of visa, documents for residence, means of subsistence, minors, deadlines and fees; and AIMA’s Brexit page.