Residence Card for the Family Member of an EU or Portuguese Citizen

This guide covers the residence card for the family member of an EU citizen (*cartão de residência de familiar de cidadão da União*) — the route under Lei n.º 37/2006, de 9 de agosto, which transposes the EU free-movement directive into Portuguese law and, in Article 3.º/5, extends the same family-member rules to the family of Portuguese citizens. It is how a non-EU spouse, partner, child or dependent parent of a Portuguese, EU/EEA, Andorran or Swiss citizen obtains the right to live and work in Portugal.

It is not family reunification. Family Reunification runs under the immigration law (Lei n.º 23/2007), and applies where the person already in Portugal is a third-country national holding a Portuguese residence permit. Different law, different conditions, different cost, different timescale. Being on the wrong one of these two routes costs years, so the distinction is the first thing this chapter establishes. If you are not sure which is yours, start with Which Immigration Route Is Right for You?.

Is this route for you?

Use it if both of these are true:

• You are a third-country national — you do not hold the nationality of an EU/EEA state, Andorra or Switzerland. Your own nationality is otherwise irrelevant: British, American, Brazilian, Indian, South African, Canadian all use the same route.
• Your family member is a Portuguese citizen, or a citizen of another EU/EEA state, Andorra or Switzerland, who is living in Portugal.

Use a different guide if the person you are joining is a third-country national with a Portuguese residence permit — that is Family Reunification — or if you have an independent basis of your own, such as a job offer, a study place or your own income. Sometimes an independent route is better even when this one is open, and that is worth an hour of arithmetic before you commit.

The provision that makes this work

*Official Requirement.* The EU free-movement directive is, on its own terms, about citizens who move between Member States. That would leave out the largest group of people who need this route: the foreign spouse of a Portuguese citizen who has always lived in Portugal.

Portugal closed that gap in its own law. Article 3.º/5 of Lei n.º 37/2006:

*"As normas da presente lei aplicáveis a familiares são extensíveis aos familiares de cidadãos de nacionalidade portuguesa, independentemente da sua nacionalidade."*

The rules applicable to family members extend to the family of Portuguese nationals, whatever the family member's nationality. That single sentence is why a Portuguese citizen who has never left Portugal can be joined by a foreign spouse on this route rather than on family reunification.

Who counts as a family member

*Official Requirement.* Art. 2.º(e) defines *familiar* as:

• the spouse of the citizen;
• the partner with whom the citizen lives in *união de facto*;
• the direct descendant under 21, or a direct descendant of any age who is dependent (*a cargo*);
• the direct ascendant who is dependent on the citizen.

Descendants and ascendants of the spouse count on the same terms, which is why AIMA's list has separate entries for a stepchild (*enteado*) and for the parent of the citizen's spouse.

*Observed Practice.* AIMA's own page lists, under "who may apply", the spouse, descendants under 21, dependent descendants over 21 and dependent ascendants — and does not name the *união de facto* partner. But the same page then sets out the documents required for a couple in *união de facto*, and the partner is in the law at Art. 2.º(e). Read the omission as a drafting gap on the web page, not as a rule; take the documents list as the operative one and expect to prove the union properly.

Other family members: facilitated, not automatic

*Official Requirement.* Art. 3.º/2 reaches a person who is not in the Art. 2.º(e) list but who, in the country they have come from, is dependent on the citizen (*a cargo*) or lives in the same household as them (*comunhão de habitação*), or where the citizen must personally care for them for serious health reasons. For those people, entry and residence is *"facilitada, nos termos da lei geral"* — facilitated, under the general law.

Read that carefully, because it promises less than it appears to. It does not place a dependent sibling, cousin or grandparent inside this route and its card; it obliges the State to ease their case under the ordinary immigration law. Art. 3.º/3 adds the protection that does the work: the decision may be taken only after examining all relevant personal circumstances, and any refusal of entry or of residence must be reasoned.

*Practical Advice.* If this is your category, the evidence that counts establishes dependency or shared household in the country of origin, in documents created at the time — remittances, shared address records, medical evidence. Note also what Portuguese law does not need this clause for: unlike the directive it transposes, it already places the *união de facto* partner in the main definition at Art. 2.º(e), so a partner is a family member outright rather than a facilitated case.

Do you need a visa to get here?

*Official Requirement.* Art. 4.º/2 is precise, and worth reading in full:

*"Os familiares de cidadãos da União que não possuam a nacionalidade de um Estado membro são admitidos no território nacional mediante a apresentação de um passaporte válido, só estando sujeitos à obrigação de visto de entrada nos termos das normas em vigor na União Europeia, beneficiando, porém, de todas as facilidades para a obtenção dos vistos necessários, os quais são concedidos a título gratuito e com tramitação especial que garanta a celeridade na emissão."*

So: entry is on a valid passport; whether a visa is needed follows the ordinary EU visa lists; and where one is needed, the family member of an EU citizen is entitled to every facility in obtaining it, free of charge, on a fast-track procedure. If a consulate charges you for that visa or treats it as an ordinary application, it is not applying Art. 4.º/2.

In practice, nationals of visa-exempt countries — the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Canada and many others — simply travel, enter as visitors, and apply to AIMA in Portugal. Nationals of visa-required countries should approach the Portuguese consulate before travelling, which is exactly what AIMA's page tells them to do.

*Official Requirement.* Art. 4.º/3 adds a rule that saves repeat trouble later: a family member who already holds a valid residence card issued under this regime may enter without a visa, and no entry stamp is placed in the passport.

The three-month rule and the 30-day window

*Official Requirement.* This is the part most people get wrong, in both directions.

You do not apply on arrival. Under Art. 15.º/1 the application for the residence card is made within 30 days after three months have elapsed from entry into Portugal. The first three months are covered by the right of short-stay residence; the card formalises what happens after that. AIMA states the same window on its page.

Two consequences follow. First, an appointment requested in your first week is premature. Second — and this matters more — the window is narrow, and AIMA appointments are not instant. Request the appointment through the contact form in good time, keep the confirmation, and treat the request date as the thing you can evidence if the appointment itself falls outside the window.

*Legal Interpretation.* The law fixes the deadline but does not, in any text we could verify, attach a specific consequence to missing it by a short period where the underlying right of residence plainly exists. We are not going to invent a penalty, and we are not going to tell you it does not matter. Apply inside the window.

What AIMA asks for

*Official Requirement.* From AIMA's published requirements for the *Cartão de Residência para Familiares de Nacionais UE*:

• A prior appointment (*agendamento prévio*).
• The identity document of the person you are joining — their *Certificado de Registo*, valid residence card, valid *Bilhete de Identidade*, valid *Cartão de Cidadão* or valid passport. For a Portuguese citizen this is normally the Cartão de Cidadão.
• Your own valid passport, and a photocopy of the passport pages showing movements (entry stamps).
• Proof of dependency, where the application rests on dependency.
• A *Termo de Responsabilidade* signed by the EU national — the declaration of responsibility.
• If married: a full-form birth certificate or marriage certificate (*certidão de narrativa completa de nascimento ou assento de casamento*), signed and stamped, with an Apostille under the 1961 Hague Convention where the document is foreign.
• If in *união de facto*: birth certificates of both partners and documentary proof of at least two years of shared life.
• If a descendant: the birth certificate. Over 21: school or university enrolment and other evidence of dependency.
• If a stepchild: birth certificate and the residence card of the parent.
• If an ascendant of the citizen, or of the citizen's spouse: the citizen's (or spouse's) birth certificate; and where the ascendant is under 65, an IRS return listing dependants plus other proof of dependency — bank transfers to the country of origin, or a declaration from the origin state that the person receives no pension or financial support.
• The application form for a residence card for a third-country national family member of an EU national, which AIMA publishes as a PDF.

*Practical Advice.* On legalisation: an Apostille is needed for a foreign public document from a Hague Convention country, and consular legalisation where the country is not a signatory. Documents issued in an EU Member State need neither, under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191, and documents in English, French or Spanish do not need a certified translation (art. 49.º/8 of the Código do Registo Civil). Those two exemptions between them remove most of the cost people expect. See The Documents You'll Need.

What this route does not ask you for

*Official Requirement.* This is the practical heart of the chapter, and it is why identifying the right route matters so much.

AIMA's published list for this card contains no means-of-subsistence test and no accommodation certificate for a spouse, and there is no waiting period before the citizen may be joined. The two-year sponsor rule, the income scale indexed to the minimum wage, the adequate-accommodation assessment and the nine-month decision period all belong to family reunification under Lei n.º 23/2007. They are not conditions of this card.

*Legal Interpretation.* Be precise about why. Art. 7.º/1 of Lei n.º 37/2006 does set conditions for residence beyond three months — the citizen must be working or self-employed, or have sufficient resources for themselves and their family plus health insurance, or be a student — and the family member's right is derivative of the citizen's. Those conditions attach to the citizen's right of residence. A Portuguese national in Portugal holds a residence right that is not conditional in that way, which is consistent with AIMA asking a Portuguese spouse for an identity document and a *Termo de Responsabilidade* rather than for payslips.

Where the citizen is from another Member State and has been in Portugal for more than three months, expect their own registration position to matter: their *Certificado de Registo* is on AIMA's list of acceptable identity documents precisely because it evidences that they registered their residence. That certificate is obtained at the câmara municipal, not at AIMA — the municipalities and AIMA issue it jointly under Portaria n.º 1334-D/2010.

*Practical Advice.* Sort the citizen's own position first. The card you are applying for is derivative: if the Portuguese or EU family member is not actually resident in Portugal, there is nothing for your right to derive from.

The complete process

Step 1 — The citizen establishes residence in Portugal

For a Portuguese national returning home, this is a move. For another EU national, it also means registering at the câmara municipal after three months and obtaining the *Certificado de Registo*.

Step 2 — Check the visa position before travelling

Visa-exempt nationals travel and enter on their passport. Visa-required nationals go to the Portuguese consulate first, and the visa should be free and fast-tracked (Art. 4.º/2).

Step 3 — Assemble the civil documents early

Marriage and birth certificates, apostilles, dependency evidence. These come from registries abroad on their own calendars, and they are the usual reason a file is not ready when the window opens. Start before you move, not after.

Step 4 — Request the AIMA appointment

Through AIMA's Formulário de Contacto, selecting the subject *"Cartão de Residente da União Europeia (CRUE)"*. Keep the confirmation. See How to Book an AIMA Appointment, and make sure AIMA holds the right contact details before you start — AIMA writes to what it has on file, and the physical card is sent to that address (Update Your Contact Details).

Step 5 — Attend at the Loja AIMA

You submit the form and the documents in person. Biometric data is collected. Take originals and copies of everything, and take the person you are joining if their signature or identity document is needed in the room.

Step 6 — The card is issued

Art. 15.º caps issue at three months, and AIMA publishes the same three-month period for a decision.

What it costs

*Official Requirement.* For this card, applied for in person at a Loja AIMA (Portaria n.º 1334-D/2010, art. 3.º, as amended by Portaria n.º 13/2024):

• €18 — applicants aged 25 or over.
• €15 — applicants under 25.
• Free — children up to one year old.
• €53 (25 or over) or €50 (under 25) — urgent issue, hand-delivered on the same working day.
• €3 — a standalone change of address that does not replace the document.
• €15 extra — delivery by secure mail.

The same table carries lower digital-channel rates, but they do not reach this card: there is no digital channel for a first residence card. They apply to the documents in this regime that are requested online — above all the permanent card, through the Portal de Renovações since 1 July 2026.

*Legal Interpretation.* The reason these numbers are so low is legal, not administrative. Art. 29.º/4 of Lei n.º 37/2006 caps the fee at what is charged for a national identity document. This route is not priced like immigration; it is priced like a citizen's ID card. Compare it with the reunification route, where a national visa alone is €110 and AIMA's own charges run to roughly €247 at the 2026 table.

While you wait, and what the card carries

*Official Requirement.* On submitting the application you are issued a certificate confirming the application (Art. 15.º/2). That document is your evidence that you applied inside the window and that a decision is pending.

Art. 19.º settles the question everybody asks:

*"Os familiares do cidadão da União que gozam do direito de residência... têm, independentemente da sua nacionalidade, o direito de exercer actividade profissional subordinada ou independente."*

Family members with the right of residence may work as employees or be self-employed, whatever their nationality. The right comes from the residence right itself, not from a permission stamped on the card, and it is not conditional on an employer sponsoring you.

*Practical Advice.* A pending application is not a travel document. If you need to leave and re-enter Portugal before the card is issued, work out your position in advance on the basis of your own nationality's entry rules — the exemption from the entry visa in Art. 4.º/3 belongs to a family member who holds a valid residence card, not to one who has applied for it.

Five years: the permanent card

*Official Requirement.* Art. 10.º/1 gives permanent residence to those who have resided legally in Portugal for five consecutive years, and Art. 10.º/2 extends it to third-country family members on the same period. The document is the cartão de residência permanente (Art. 17.º), issued within three months of the request.

AIMA's published requirements: five consecutive years of legal residence, a valid passport, the residence card being replaced, proof of your stay in Portugal, and evidence that the family relationship on which the first card was issued still subsists — an up-to-date marriage certificate, or for a *união de facto*, joint IRS returns, joint bank accounts or equivalent. If your address has changed, proof of the change (a *junta de freguesia* certificate, a deed, or a tenancy agreement).

*Official Requirement.* The channel changed in 2026. The permanent card is requested through the Portal de Renovações. Requests submitted through the old Contact Form until 30 June 2026 remain valid, and appointments already scheduled stand; from 1 July 2026 the Portal de Renovações is the channel, replacing the equivalent option in the Contact Form. If biometric data must be collected in person after you start the request, AIMA schedules that and notifies you.

If the relationship ends

*Official Requirement.* Art. 8.º/1 is important and widely unknown:

*"A morte ou partida do território nacional de um cidadão da União, bem como o divórcio, a anulação do casamento ou a cessação da união de facto, não implica a perda do direito de residência dos familiares, independentemente da sua nacionalidade."*

Death, departure, divorce, annulment or the end of a *união de facto* does not automatically end the family member's right of residence.

*Legal Interpretation.* But retention is conditional, and the conditions are not the same for everyone. For third-country family members, Art. 8.º/3 turns on being in employment or self-employment, or having sufficient resources and health insurance, or being the family member of someone who meets those conditions where the family was constituted in Portugal. Art. 8.º/4 protects children in education in Portugal and the parent who has their care.

We are not going to reduce Art. 8.º to a rule of thumb. Which sub-paragraph applies, and what it requires of you, depends on facts — how the family was formed and where, whether there are children, what your own economic position is. The right exists; the conditions are real; and this is one of the few situations in this guide where an individual legal opinion is worth its price, taken before anything is filed or any status lapses.

British citizens: which side of Brexit are you on?

*Official Requirement.* Which regime applies to a British citizen depends on one date.

• If you were legally resident in Portugal by 31 December 2020, when the transition period ended, you and your family are beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement. Your documentation runs through AIMA's Brexit channel (brexit@aima.gov.pt), and the residence document confirms your status under the Agreement, referencing Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. That is a different document from the one in this chapter, and the transition from temporary to permanent residence under the Agreement is likewise its own process.
• If you arrived after that date, you are a third-country national like any other. If your spouse or parent is Portuguese or an EU citizen, this chapter is your route. The section below sets out how it compares with the alternative.

Brexit does not prevent this application. It changes which regime you are in.

How this differs from family reunification

*Official Requirement.* Set out plainly, because conflating the two is the most expensive mistake around this route:

• Who the family member joins. Here: a Portuguese, EU/EEA, Andorran or Swiss citizen. Reunification: a third-country national holding a Portuguese residence permit.
• Which law. Here: Lei n.º 37/2006. Reunification: Lei n.º 23/2007, Arts. 98.º to 107.º, as rewritten by Lei n.º 61/2025.
• Waiting period. Here: none. Reunification: the sponsor's permit must have been valid for at least two years.
• Means and accommodation. Here: not on AIMA's published list for a spouse. Reunification: a statutory condition (Art. 101.º).
• Where the family member must be. Here: they apply in Portugal, after three months. Reunification: for most families, the relative must be outside Portugal and comes in on a consular residence visa.
• Decision period. Here: three months. Reunification: nine months.
• Cost. Here: €18. Reunification: €110 for the visa plus AIMA's fees.
• The document. Here: a cartão de residência de familiar de cidadão da União, valid five years. Reunification: an ordinary residence permit whose duration tracks the sponsor's.

If both routes are genuinely open to you — for example, your spouse holds dual Portuguese and third-country nationality — this one is materially better on every point above.

Common mistakes

• Applying under family reunification because it is the better-known route, when the family member is Portuguese or an EU citizen.
• Requesting the AIMA appointment on arrival. The window opens after three months.
• Leaving the appointment request to the last week of the 30-day window.
• Assuming a means test applies and arriving with payslips instead of the *Termo de Responsabilidade* and the relationship documents.
• Arriving without the passport pages showing movements — AIMA's list asks for them specifically.
• Paying for an apostille on an EU-issued document, or for a translation of an English, French or Spanish one. Neither is required.
• Paying a consulate for the entry visa where one is needed. Art. 4.º/2 says it is free.
• A British applicant assuming Brexit rules them out, or conversely assuming Withdrawal Agreement status they do not have.
• Treating a pending application as permission to travel.
• Letting the relationship documents go stale while waiting for the appointment.
• Assuming the right of residence simply survives a divorce with no conditions attached (Art. 8.º).

If something goes wrong

• AIMA asks for more documents. Read the request, note the deadline, send exactly what is asked, keep proof of sending.
• You cannot get an appointment inside the window. Keep dated evidence of every attempt, the contact-form confirmation especially. Dated evidence of the request is worth more than an explanation without it.
• The relationship document is refused for form. Usually an apostille, a signature or a stamp, and usually fixable without starting again.
• Refused on the genuineness of the relationship. A different order of problem, with consequences for both people and short deadlines. Take advice immediately.
• AIMA passes three months without deciding. The three-month period is published by AIMA and set out in Art. 15.º. Where an authority fails to decide within its own deadline, the remedy is administrative and time-limited; raise it with a lawyer, not at a counter.

Frequently asked questions

Can I work straight away?

Once you hold the right of residence, yes — employed or self-employed, under Art. 19.º, whatever your nationality. The right derives from residence, not from an endorsement on the card.

Do I need a visa to come to Portugal?

It depends on your nationality and the ordinary EU visa lists. Where a visa is required, Art. 4.º/2 entitles you to obtain it free of charge and on a fast-track procedure. If you already hold a valid residence card under this regime, you may enter without a visa (Art. 4.º/3).

Does Brexit stop me applying?

No. If you were resident by 31 December 2020, you are a Withdrawal Agreement beneficiary and your documents run through AIMA's Brexit channel. If you arrived later, you use this route as the family member of an EU or Portuguese citizen.

We married outside Portugal. Does that work?

Yes — that is the ordinary case. AIMA asks for the marriage certificate with an Apostille where the issuing country is a Hague signatory. An EU-issued certificate needs no apostille at all, and certificates in English, French or Spanish need no translation.

We are not married. Can I apply as a partner?

The law includes the *união de facto* partner at Art. 2.º(e), and AIMA's document list requires birth certificates for both of you plus documentary proof of at least two years of shared life. AIMA's "who may apply" summary omits the partner; the documents section does not. Prove the two years properly and in contemporaneous documents.

Can same-sex spouses apply?

Yes. Portugal recognises same-sex marriage in its own law, and Art. 2.º(e) refers to the spouse without qualification.

How long is the card valid, and what comes after?

Five years, or the citizen's shorter planned period of residence. After five consecutive years of legal residence you may apply for the permanent residence card (Arts. 10.º and 17.º), through the Portal de Renovações.

How much does it cost?

€18 for applicants aged 25 or over. This card is applied for at the counter, so that is the rate — the €15 digital rate in the same table belongs to the documents in this regime that are requested online, such as the permanent card. Less for under-25s, free for children under one, €53 for urgent same-day issue. The fee is capped by Art. 29.º/4 at the level of a national identity document.

Can this lead to Portuguese citizenship?

Time spent legally resident counts towards naturalisation on the rules in force when you apply, and marriage to a Portuguese national is a separate basis with its own conditions. Nationality law is a different statute and has been under active reform — see Becoming a Portuguese Citizen rather than assuming a timeline from this chapter.

What if we divorce before the five years are up?

Art. 8.º preserves the right of residence in principle, but on conditions that differ according to your circumstances. Take individual advice before your status is affected, not after.

Before you submit: final checklist

• The Portuguese or EU family member is actually resident in Portugal, and — if not Portuguese — has their *Certificado de Registo* from the câmara municipal.
• You are inside the window: more than three months since entry, and within 30 days of that point.
• Appointment requested through the contact form under CRUE, with the confirmation saved.
• Valid passport, plus photocopies of the pages showing movements.
• The relationship document — marriage certificate, birth certificate — with an Apostille where the issuing country requires one, and no apostille paid for on an EU document.
• *Termo de Responsabilidade* signed by the EU or Portuguese citizen.
• Dependency evidence where the application rests on it, in documents rather than assertions.
• AIMA's application form completed.
• AIMA holds your current address, because that is where the card is sent.

This route is stable in its law but not in its channels: the permanent-card process moved to the Portal de Renovações on 1 July 2026, and AIMA's appointment mechanism has changed more than once. Portugeasy monitors the published rules for €5 a month and tells you when a change affects a case like yours, matching a profile you declare against what the authorities actually publish. To be exact: we read the rules, not your file. We cannot see inside an AIMA case, and nobody outside AIMA can.

Sources

• AIMA — Cartão de Residência para Familiares de Nacionais UE
• AIMA — Cartão de Residência Permanente para Familiares de Nacionais da UE
• Lei n.º 37/2006, de 9 de agosto (consolidated)
• Portaria n.º 13/2024, de 22 de janeiro (fees and models)
• AIMA — Brexit / Withdrawal Agreement