Family Reunification in Portugal

The main Portugal family & dependents guide covers including a spouse and children as dependents on your own D7/D8 application. This page covers the other direction, described generally in the site's Family & Spousal Visas overview: joining a partner who already holds Portuguese residency or citizenship.

Confirmed under Portugal's Law 61/2025 (in force since October 23, 2025): the sponsoring partner must now hold valid Portuguese residency for a minimum period before filing — sources report this figure inconsistently, ranging from 1 to 2 full years, so confirm the current specific requirement directly with AIMA rather than trust either figure here. Golden Visa holders, highly qualified professionals, and EU Blue Card holders are exempt from this prior-residence requirement entirely. Income is benchmarked against Portugal's minimum wage (€920/month as of 2026), plus roughly 50% more for a spouse or partner and 30% per dependent child, with suitable housing also required.

This route is generally slower than being included as a dependent on an original D7/D8 application submitted together, since it requires the sponsoring partner's status to already be fully established first — worth factoring into timeline planning if you're weighing whether to apply together from the outset versus one partner going first.

Unmarried partners are handled differently than married spouses under Portugal's framework, and documentation requirements for proving a genuine de facto relationship are confirmed as more extensive than for a formal marriage — joint financial records, proof of cohabitation, and communication records are all now things AIMA has explicit discretion to request under the same 2025 law reform, reflecting a broader tightening of genuine-relationship scrutiny across the whole family reunification framework, not just for unmarried partners specifically.