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THE CITIZENSHIP DESK

Family / Spouse / Dependant

Family reunification visas for the spouses, partners, children, or dependants of citizens and residents.

187 countries have at least one visa in this category.

What this category is

Family, spouse, and dependant visas grant residence based on a qualifying relationship - marriage, civil partnership, parent-child, or in some systems extended family - to a sponsor who already holds citizenship or residence status in the host country. Qualification centers on proving the relationship is genuine (often via cohabitation history, joint finances, or interviews), meeting a minimum income or savings threshold for the sponsor, and sometimes passing a pre-entry language or civics test. Duration is usually tied to the relationship's continuation and the sponsor's own status, commonly issued in 2-5 year blocks before conversion to permanent residence, though some systems (notably the UK) impose an extended probationary period before settlement.

Every major immigration system runs a family category, but the toughest financial and evidentiary thresholds cluster in the UK and parts of continental Europe, while the US, Canada, and Australia run comparatively well-defined (if slow) sponsor-based processes with clearer documentary checklists.

Because the visa depends on an ongoing relationship rather than the applicant's own qualifications, this category carries a structural risk the others don't: divorce, separation, or the sponsor's death or loss of status can undo the dependant's legal basis to stay, regardless of how long they've already lived in the country.

Editor's top 3

  1. 1
    🇨🇦 Canada

    Canada's spousal sponsorship route grants open work rights to the applicant almost immediately while the application processes, reducing the financial dependency risk common elsewhere.

  2. 2
    🇺🇸 United States

    The US family-based green card route (for immediate relatives of citizens) has no annual numerical cap for spouses of US citizens, avoiding the multi-year backlogs that affect other family categories.

  3. 3
    🇵🇹 Portugal

    Portugal's family reunification rules are comparatively low-threshold on sponsor income and integrate cleanly with its broader residence-to-citizenship timeline for the whole family unit.

Before you apply

  • Minimum income requirements for the sponsor (not the applicant) can be a hard bar - the UK's threshold, for example, has repeatedly excluded lower-earning sponsors regardless of the couple's combined finances.
  • Relationship-genuineness scrutiny is real and evidence-heavy - insufficient joint documentation (shared leases, bank accounts, photos over time) is a leading cause of refusal, especially for shorter relationships.
  • Divorce or separation before permanent residence is granted can immediately void the dependant's status in many systems, even after years of lawful residence on the family visa.
  • Some family visas restrict or delay work rights for the dependant spouse until a later stage, creating an income gap precisely when the couple is establishing a new household.
  • Children aging out matters: dependant children who turn 18 (or in some systems 21) during processing can lose eligibility entirely and need to requalify under a different category.

All 187 countries in this category

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