Family Reunification in Portugal

This guide covers family reunification (*reagrupamento familiar*) — the route under Articles 98.º to 107.º of the immigration law (Lei n.º 23/2007) by which someone already legally resident in Portugal brings a spouse, a partner, children, a dependent parent, or a minor sibling in their care. Those articles were rewritten by Lei n.º 61/2025, in force since 23 October 2025. Almost everything published about this route before that date is now wrong in at least one material way.

It does not cover EU/EEA/Swiss citizens exercising free-movement rights, and it does not cover the route by which the sponsor got their own residence — for that see Work Residence, Digital Nomad Visa (D8), Passive Income (D7), Entrepreneur (D2), Highly Qualified (D3), Researcher, Student Residence or CPLP Residence. If you are not sure which route is yours, start with Which Immigration Route Is Right for You?.

Is this route for you?

Use it if you hold a valid Portuguese residence permit, you are a third-country national, and the person you want to bring falls within Art. 99.º (spouse, dependent children, dependent parents, a minor sibling under your guardianship) or Art. 100.º (a *união de facto* partner) — and you can show means and accommodation for the household you are creating, not the one you have.

Use another guide if you are an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen or the family member of a Portuguese national (different, more favourable regimes), or if the relative has an independent basis of their own — a job, a study place, a research post. Sometimes their own route is faster and cleaner than reunification. That deserves ten minutes of arithmetic first.

One-minute summary

The sponsor applies at AIMA, in Portugal. The relative abroad does not start at the consulate — the consular stage opens only after AIMA approves. Then the consulate issues a residence visa (Art. 64.º), the family member travels, and they apply to AIMA for their own permit (Art. 107.º).

The October 2025 rewrite changed four things that matter more than anything else here:

• A two-year waiting period for the sponsor, with a short and widely misreported exemption list.
• Tacit approval is gone. Silence can no longer ripen into an approval.
• The decision period is now nine months.
• In-country reunification was narrowed. Most families must now apply for a relative who is outside Portugal.

The two-year rule (Art. 98.º/1)

*Official Requirement.* The sponsor must hold a residence permit that has been valid for at least two years (*"válida há pelo menos dois anos"*). It applies to family members under Art. 99.º and to *união de facto* partners under Art. 100.º. It is not limited to family who are abroad.

*Legal Interpretation.* The law does not say how the two years are counted. Whether time runs from the grant of the permit, from the issue of the card, or from the filing date is simply not in the statute — AIMA has published no counting rule and no court has settled it. We will not guess for you: a premature application is refused, not held. If you are near the boundary, get the counting confirmed for your permit before you file. Anyone who states this confidently is stating something the law does not contain.

The 15-month variant (Art. 98.º/2)

Widely mis-described. The 15 months is the required duration of the sponsor's permit — not a faster process. Where the sponsor is bringing a spouse or equivalent partner and the couple lived together for at least 18 months immediately before the sponsor entered Portugal, the permit-validity requirement drops from two years to 15 months. That cohabitation happened abroad, before the move, and it must be documented.

Who is exempt from the waiting period (Art. 98.º/3)

*Official Requirement.* The waiting period does not apply to:

• Minors and dependent incapable persons.
• A spouse or partner who is the co-parent (or co-adopter) of such a dependent minor.
• Family of a holder under Art. 90.º (highly qualified, teaching, cultural activity), Art. 90.º-A (ARI / Golden Visa) or Art. 121.º-A (EU Blue Card).

That is the whole list. Readers assume otherwise, so plainly: D7, D8, D2, students, researchers under Art. 91.º-B, CPLP permit holders and ordinary Art. 88.º work permits are all inside the two-year rule. The exemption attaches to the article of your permit, not to how skilled your job is — a highly qualified professional on an Art. 88.º permit is not exempt, while the same person on an Art. 90.º permit is (see Highly Qualified (D3)).

*Practical Advice.* Exempt from the waiting period is not exempt from the conditions. Accommodation, means and the rest of Art. 101.º still apply in full to a minor child's application.

Art. 98.º/4 also allows the waiting period to be waived or reduced in reasoned exceptional cases. It is discretionary, no published guidance says what succeeds, and it is not a plan.

The Constitutional Court did not strike this down

*Legal Interpretation.* You will read that the Constitutional Court killed the two-year rule. That is wrong, and it is the most dangerous misinformation about this route.

The President referred an earlier draft — *Decreto n.º 6/XVII* — for preventive review. The Court gave Acórdão n.º 785/2025 on 8 August 2025, the President vetoed, Parliament revised the text, and the revised text was promulgated as Lei n.º 61/2025. The Court has never ruled on Lei n.º 61/2025. The two-year rule is in force. And on the point most often invoked, the Court went the other way: it upheld treating ARI, Blue Card and highly qualified holders differently from everyone else.

If your plan depends on the two-year rule being unenforceable, you do not have a plan.

If you applied before 23 October 2025

*Official Requirement.* Art. 8.º of Lei n.º 61/2025: the new rules apply only to procedures started after it entered into force. An application filed before 23 October 2025 stays under the old regime — the three-month decision period, tacit approval, and the old ability to file for family already in Portugal.

So keep proof of your filing date: the receipt, the portal confirmation, the e-mail. It is now one of the most valuable documents in the file, and it is what you would rely on if an old application were processed under the new rules.

The separate 180-day transitional window (Art. 6.º/2), which let people reunify family already lawfully in Portugal on the old conditions, ran to about 21 April 2026. It is closed. Any source describing it as open is stale.

Who qualifies as a family member

*Official Requirement.* Art. 99.º covers:

• The spouse.
• Minor or incapable children dependent on the couple or on one spouse, including adopted minors.
• Adult children dependent on the couple or on one spouse — but only where unmarried and studying in Portugal (studying abroad can qualify where the sponsor holds an ARI permit).
• First-degree ascendants in the direct line — a parent of the sponsor or of the spouse — genuinely dependent (*a cargo*).
• Minor siblings of the resident, under the resident's guardianship (*tutela*), decided by a competent authority. Almost every guide omits this. It is real, and it is narrow: guardianship, not closeness.

The *união de facto* partner is Art. 100.º, not Art. 99.º. Lei 61/2025 did not amend Art. 100.º — but the two-year waiting period reaches it anyway.

The new Art. 99.º/6 — recognition, and both parties 18 or over

*Official Requirement.* Lei 61/2025 added a rule that will decide many cases: the marriage or *união de facto* must be valid and recognised under Portuguese law, and both parties must be 18 or over at the date of the application.

*Practical Advice.* This is the likely failure point, and it is family law, not immigration. A marriage celebrated abroad generally needs to be transcribed into the Portuguese civil registry (*Conservatória dos Registos Centrais*) before it can be relied on. A foreign *união de facto* is harder still: Portugal recognises it on its own terms, not on those of the country that registered it. Religious-only ceremonies, customary marriages and marriages where one party was under 18 are all places where the file stops. Start the recognition first, in parallel with everything else — a perfect immigration file built on a marriage Portugal does not recognise is a refusal with extra steps.

Where you apply: inside or outside Portugal

*Official Requirement.* Art. 103.º/2: only the categories exempt under Art. 98.º/3 may reunify family who are already in Portugal. Everyone else applies for a family member who is outside national territory, and the route runs AIMA → consular visa → entry → permit.

The complete process

Step 1 — Check the sponsor's eligibility first

Two years, the 15-month variant, or an Art. 98.º/3 exemption? Must the relative be abroad? Getting this wrong costs months, because a premature application is refused, not paused.

Step 2 — Fix the civil-status recognition

Marriage transcription, *união de facto* recognition, guardianship orders, adoption decrees. These run on the calendars of registries and courts, not of AIMA. Start now.

Step 3 — Build the file

Relationship evidence, the sponsor's status and dates, means, accommodation, criminal records — sequenced by expiry, with time left for apostille and translation where they are genuinely needed.

Step 4 — The sponsor files at AIMA, in Portugal

The sponsor submits; the relative abroad does nothing at this stage. AIMA assesses the relationship, the sponsor's residence and its duration, accommodation, means and criminal record.

Step 5 — The consular visa (Art. 64.º)

If AIMA approves, the family member applies at the consulate responsible for where they legally live for a residence visa granted for family reunification. The visa is the entry document. The AIMA approval is not.

Step 6 — Entry, then their own permit (Art. 107.º)

They travel on the visa, then apply to AIMA for their own permit under Art. 107.º, whose duration normally tracks the sponsor's. Only when that title is issued do they hold residence in their own right. See Residence Visa vs Residence Permit.

What the sponsor must prove (Art. 101.º)

*Official Requirement.* The sponsor must show accommodation and means of subsistence for the family, without recourse to social assistance.

*Legal Interpretation.* There is a real gap in the law here, and we are not going to paper over it. New Art. 101.º hands the housing and means standards to portarias that have not been published. The statute states the test but not the number.

In practice AIMA still applies the old scale in Portaria n.º 1563/2007, indexed to the guaranteed minimum monthly wage (RMMG): 100% for the first adult, 50% for each additional adult, 30% per minor child or dependent adult child. With the RMMG at €920 in 2026, a sponsor bringing a spouse and one minor child is measured against 180% — about €1,656 a month. Treat that as a derivation from the regulation AIMA currently applies, not as a published reunification threshold, because there is no published reunification threshold. When the new portaria appears, the number can move.

On accommodation: AIMA's lists ask for a sworn declaration of your address stating the legal basis on which you occupy it, plus a land-registry certificate (if you own) or a declaration from the landlord or hosting entity. No AIMA list requires a 12-month lease registered with Finanças, and there is no "Modelo 2" in immigration — that is the landlord's stamp-duty form. What the law does require is accommodation adequate for the household you are creating. A studio that satisfied you alone will not satisfy an application for a spouse and two children.

Integration measures — real, but not yet operable

*Official Requirement.* New Art. 101.º/3-4 introduces integration measures — Portuguese-language training and training on the principles and values of the Constitution — and makes renewal of the permit depend on proving compliance.

*Legal Interpretation.* The article says these are defined *"nos termos previstos em decreto regulamentar"*, and that regulation has not been published. No published provider, no published hours, no published certificate. The obligation exists in the statute; the machinery to comply with it does not yet exist publicly. Expect it, plan for it, and do not buy the "certified course" someone is already selling.

Documents

• The sponsor's residence permit, and evidence of its dates. This is what the waiting period is measured against.
• Marriage certificate — and its Portuguese recognition. The certificate proves a marriage happened; Art. 99.º/6 requires that Portugal *recognises* it. Two documents, two institutions.
• *União de facto* evidence. Contemporaneous and documentary: shared address history, joint accounts, joint tenancy, official registration where it exists. Statements written after the fact, about a past that left no paper trail, carry little weight.
• Birth certificates. They establish parentage, which is what a child's application rests on. Names must match the passports; fix a mismatch before filing, not after.
• Adoption decrees, guardianship (*tutela*) orders, parental-responsibility decisions. Court documents. Slow. Start early.
• Dependency evidence for parents and adult children. *A cargo* means genuinely dependent: remittances, proof the relative has no income of their own, medical dependency, enrolment evidence for an adult child studying here.
• Criminal-record certificate, for the sponsor and adult family members — from the country of nationality or a country of residence of more than a year, not both. Under-16s are exempt. The official lists state no validity window; the "90 days" you have read is consular practice. One issued within about three months is the safe course.
• Proof of means — contract, payslips, tax returns, pension or rental income, bank statements. Stable and documented, not a one-off balance.
• Proof of accommodation — the sworn address declaration plus the land-registry certificate or landlord/hosting-entity declaration.
• Valid passports for everyone applying.

*Official Requirement.* Two corrections that save real money. Documents in English, French or Spanish need no translation (art. 49.º/8 of the Código do Registo Civil), and documents issued in an EU Member State need no apostille or legalisation at all (Regulation (EU) 2016/1191). Otherwise: apostille if the issuing country is a Hague signatory, consular legalisation if not, plus a certified translation. See The Documents You'll Need.

Fees

*Official Requirement.* The national visa fee is €110 (Portaria n.º 91/2025/1, in force since 11 March 2025) — but descendants applying under family reunification are exempt, so a child's reunification visa is free. Children under six are exempt in any case.

*Watch out for the official pages themselves.* Several gov.pt service pages still print the old €90. They are wrong; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs charges the fee and publishes the current figure.

AIMA's charges are a separate table, re-indexed on 1 March 2026: reception and analysis €133.00 (€99.80 digital) plus the title €114.30 (€85.80 digital) — roughly €247, or about €186 through the digital channel. It is re-indexed every year, so check the current table immediately before you pay and do not trust any total, including this one.

How long does it take?

*Official Requirement.* AIMA has nine months to decide (Art. 105.º/1). The law allows an extension by an equal period — but not in applications under Art. 98.º n.ºs 1 and 2. Add the consular visa stage and the family member's own permit after arrival.

*Legal Interpretation.* Tacit approval has been repealed. The old Art. 105.º n.ºs 3 and 4 — silence for six months counting as approval — were revoked by Lei n.º 61/2025. This is a major change and it is badly under-reported. If a guide, a forum or an agent tells you to wait it out and claim *deferimento tácito*, they are describing a mechanism that no longer exists. What replaces it is the new Art. 87.º-B: where AIMA does not decide in time, the remedy is an *ação administrativa* — a court action to compel a decision, with its own deadlines and cost.

*Observed Practice.* There is no dependable published nationwide average for how long a reunification file really takes end to end. Anyone quoting you one is quoting a sample they have not shown you.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the pre-October-2025 rules still apply. For anything filed after 23 October 2025, they do not.
• Believing the Constitutional Court struck down the two-year rule. It did not, and it never ruled on this law.
• Assuming an exemption that does not exist — D7, D8, D2, student, researcher, CPLP and ordinary Art. 88.º permits are all inside the two-year rule.
• Being confident about when the clock starts. The statute does not say.
• Reading Art. 98.º/2 as "15 months instead of two years for everyone". It is a permit-duration rule for a spouse with 18 months of prior cohabitation abroad.
• Building the file on a foreign marriage Portugal has not recognised (Art. 99.º/6).
• Filing at the consulate first. The sponsor files at AIMA; the consulate comes after approval.
• Trying to reunify family already in Portugal without being in an Art. 98.º/3 category.
• Waiting for tacit approval. It was repealed.
• Accommodation sized for the household you have, not the one you are creating.
• Letting court documents and certificates expire while the slowest one is still being apostilled.
• Citing "Art. 98.º n.º 2" for in-country reunification because AIMA's page still says so.

Are they still legal — and can they travel?

*Official Requirement.* An AIMA approval is not a travel document. Neither is a receipt or a pending appointment; AIMA says it plainly — *"O recibo comprovativo do pedido de concessão de autorização de residência não é um documento de viagem."* The family member travels when the consulate has issued the residence visa, not before. Do not book flights against an AIMA decision. And the sponsor's own permit must stay valid throughout: the family application rests on the sponsor's residence, and if that lapses it rests on nothing.

Exceptional situations

• Your relative is already in Portugal and you are not in an Art. 98.º/3 category. Under Art. 103.º/2 you cannot reunify them in-country, and the 180-day window closed around 21 April 2026. Get advice on the real options — including whether they have an independent route of their own.
• You hold a CPLP permit. It is not on the Art. 98.º/3 exemption list, so the two-year rule reaches it. Separately, AIMA's own reunification FAQ — itself marked as under revision — has said that only holders of a *título de residência* may sponsor, not holders of an *autorização de residência CPLP*. We could not corroborate reports that this changed in 2026. This is live and unresolved; do not act on a forum post. See CPLP Residence.
• A genuinely exceptional case. Art. 98.º/4 allows the waiting period to be waived or reduced by reasoned ministerial decision. Raise it with a lawyer, not at a counter.

If something goes wrong

• AIMA asks for more documents. Read the request, note the deadline, send exactly what is asked, keep proof.
• AIMA misses the nine months. There is no tacit approval to claim. The remedy is an *ação administrativa* under Art. 87.º-B.
• Refused for a missing document. Usually fixable. Read the written grounds and the deadline to respond or challenge.
• Refused on the genuineness of the relationship. A different order of problem: it touches both people, it can affect future applications, and the deadlines are short.
• The refusal turns on how AIMA counted your two years. The statute defines no counting rule, which makes it exactly the kind of point that gets argued — on paper, within a filing window.

Challenging a refusal, compelling a decision, or contesting how the two-year rule was applied to your permit: that is a lawyer's job.

Frequently asked questions

How long must I have been resident, and when does the clock start?

Your permit must have been valid for at least two years (Art. 98.º/1), unless the 15-month variant or an Art. 98.º/3 exemption applies. When the clock starts, the law does not say — no AIMA rule and no court decision settles it. If you are close to the line, get it confirmed for your permit before filing.

I have a D7, a D8 or a CPLP permit. Am I exempt?

No. Art. 98.º/3 exempts only minors and dependent incapable persons, a co-parent spouse, and family of holders under Arts. 90.º, 90.º-A and 121.º-A. On CPLP there is also an unresolved question about whether AIMA accepts such holders as sponsors at all; see Exceptional situations.

Didn't the Constitutional Court strike down the two-year rule?

No. It reviewed an earlier draft (Decreto n.º 6/XVII) in Acórdão n.º 785/2025, before Lei n.º 61/2025 existed, and has never ruled on the law itself. It upheld the differentiated treatment of ARI, Blue Card and highly qualified holders.

Is the 15-month rule a faster process?

No. Fifteen months is a permit-duration requirement, replacing the two years where a spouse or equivalent partner cohabited with the sponsor for at least 18 months immediately before the sponsor entered Portugal.

Can I bring my minor children immediately?

The waiting period does not apply to minors. Everything else does — accommodation, means, and the rest of Art. 101.º.

Can I bring my parents, or my adult children?

Parents: only first-degree ascendants genuinely dependent, evidenced rather than asserted. Adult children: only where unmarried and studying in Portugal (wider if you hold an ARI permit).

Can I bring my brother or sister?

Only a minor sibling under your guardianship (*tutela*), decided by a competent authority. Most guides omit this; it is legal guardianship, not family closeness.

We are not married — or we married abroad. Does that work?

An unmarried partner is Art. 100.º (*união de facto*), and the two-year rule still applies. Either way, Art. 99.º/6 requires the marriage or union to be valid and recognised under Portuguese law, with both parties 18 or over at the date of the application. That is where these files usually stop.

How much income do I need?

The law delegates this to a portaria that has not been published. AIMA still applies 100% / 50% / 30% of the minimum wage, so a sponsor with a spouse and one child is measured against about €1,656 a month at the 2026 wage of €920. A derivation, not a published reunification threshold.

Do I need a 12-month registered lease?

No AIMA list requires one. They ask for a sworn address declaration stating the legal basis of occupation, plus a land-registry certificate or a landlord/hosting-entity declaration. The law requires accommodation adequate for the household you are creating.

Can family already in Portugal apply from here?

Only if you are in an Art. 98.º/3 category (Art. 103.º/2). Everyone else applies for a relative who is outside Portugal. The 180-day transitional window closed around 21 April 2026.

AIMA has gone silent. Can I claim tacit approval?

No — it was repealed by Lei n.º 61/2025. Where AIMA fails to decide within the nine months, the remedy is a court action under the new Art. 87.º-B.

Do my documents need translating? How long is a criminal record valid?

Not if they are in English, French or Spanish; EU documents need no apostille either. And no official list states a validity period for a criminal record — the 90 days people quote is consular practice.

Will my family have to take Portuguese classes?

Art. 101.º/3-4 introduces language and constitutional-values training and makes renewal depend on proving compliance — but the *decreto regulamentar* defining it has not been published, so there is nothing official to enrol in yet.

Can they work once they arrive, and is a lawyer compulsory?

A permit granted through family reunification generally carries the right to work; confirm the conditions on the title actually issued. A lawyer is not compulsory — but a refusal on genuineness grounds, a disputed two-year count, or an AIMA that has stopped responding are all short-deadline situations where one usually pays for itself.

Before you submit: final checklist

• Waiting-period position worked out — two years, 15 months, or an Art. 98.º/3 exemption — and the permit's dates evidenced.
• Confirmed whether the family member must be outside Portugal (Art. 103.º/2).
• Marriage or *união de facto* recognised under Portuguese law; both parties 18 or over at the date of application.
• Relationship documents complete: birth certificates, adoption decrees, guardianship orders, dependency evidence.
• Criminal records requested from the correct country — nationality or a country of residence over a year, not both.
• Apostille and translation done where needed, and skipped where they are not (EU documents; EN/FR/ES need no translation).
• Means evidence stable and documented; accommodation matched to the future household.
• The sponsor's own permit valid, and staying valid, throughout the procedure.
• Proof of the filing date kept — it decides which version of the law governs you.
• No flights booked on the strength of an AIMA approval alone.

This route is mid-reform: two central regulations — the means-and-accommodation *portaria* and the integration *decreto regulamentar* — are still unpublished, and the statute does not define how the two years are counted. Things will move. 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 — Reagrupamento familiar
• Lei n.º 23/2007, consolidated (Articles 98.º to 107.º)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs — national visas
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs — visa fees (emolumentos)
• Constitutional Court — Acórdão n.º 785/2025 (preventive review of Decreto n.º 6/XVII)