Residence Card of a Family Member of the EU

Steps and TimelinE:

Step 1: Hire a lawyer.

This is especially important if you do not know Spanish as there are no translations of any of the documents. Besides the language, the process is quite complex. A lawyer guarantees that all your paperwork is valid and accounted for so that there are no delays.

Step 2: Obtain Pareja de Hecho.

Pareja de Hecho, also known as a legally recognized civil partnership in Spain, is what I used to obtain the residency permit. To obtain the resolution document of Pareja de Hecho you must first go before a notary and have your relationship with the EU citizen recognized. This takes about a month. See how to obtain Pareja de Hecho in my other blog post here.

Step 3: Apply for Residency Permit.

Below is a list of all the documents that are necessary to obtain the approval for your Temporary Residence Card of a EU Citizen, or in Spanish, a Tarjeta de Residencia Temporal Ciudadano de la UE.

• A photocopy of the Spanish citizen’s DNI (front and back)
• A photocopy of every page of your passport (EVERY SINGLE PAGE, including blank pages)
• Photocopy of your previous identity card if you have one (front and back)
• A certificado de empadronamiento for you and one for the Spanish citizen. You must be padroned at the same address. Empadronamiento (or padron) is the registration of where you reside with the government. This is mandatory for anyone staying past 6 months. There are different rules for how long you must be padroned together in different regions for pareja de hecho. For Catalonia it does not matter the amount of time. (IMPORTANT: The padron can not be dated more than 3 months or it will not be accepted. To update the date on your padron you do not need an appointment, go to any OAC office and you will find a red machine where you can scan your passport or past identity card, whichever you originally registered with. You are then able to print out a new padron document with an updated date. If you are no currently padroned you can make an appointment here.
• The resolution document that you received from the Department of Justice that confirms that you registered as a civil partnership or pareja de hecho.
• A photocopy of the Spanish citizen’s work contract.

I provided the above documents to my lawyer in order via PDF. In total this amounted to 38 pages. Additionally, we sent a Documento de Designación de Representante (a document that gave permission for our lawyer to send our documents on our behalf) and paid the lawyer 250 euros. She sent it off January 18 and and I received a notification via email that it was accepted on April 28. You read that right 3.5 months later. However, she told me originally that could take up to 4.5 months. So I guess we were lucky(?) You will need to take this resolution letter with you in the next step.

Step 4: Take Finger Prints and Process Physical Card with National Police

Make an appointment here with the National Police for finger prints and the card. Choose the Policia-Toma de huellas (expedición de tarjeta) y renocación de tarjeta de larga duración option

I scheduled the appointment on April 30. The closest appointment I could find was in Vilafranca de Pedralbes on May 19.

You must prepare the following documents to bring to your appointment.

• The resolution from the Spanish government that your application for Temporary Residence as a Family Member of an EU citizen was accepted.
• Original passport and a photocopy of it
• 1 recent passport sized photo with white background. You can go to any photo place around town to take this for you for a few euros.
• Your previous residence card, if you have one. Bring even if expired.
• A copy of your empadronamiento. No worries, if you have moved, just bring the one with your most recent address. Once again, make sure date is within 3 months or it will not be valid.
• Form EX-17 Solicitud de Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero. Download here.
• Modelo 790, Codigo 012 aka tax form. You can download it here. Fill it out. I selected the Certificado de registro de residente comunitario o Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de un ciudadano de la Unión option. You then take the filled out document to any Spanish bank ex. BBVA or La Caixa. Use the ATM to pay the 12 euros tax. (IMPORTANT: Bring the receipt of payment attached to the Modelo as proof of payment.)

Step 5: Pick up Residence Card

I returned to the same office in Vilafranca de Pedralbes on July 1 to pick up my card.

To pick up you must bring the following documents:

• In Process Residency Card document (a paper they give you at the end of your TIE appointment that shows that you were in process)
• Passport
• Expired previous identity cards of Spain, if applicable.

Step 6: Celebrate!

7.5 months later and am officially good to go!! I am now able to work, study, enroll in the social security program for healthcare, and stay in the EU without restriction.