Many of you contact Extranjeristas on a daily basis to ask us about the procedure for obtaining residency through a domestic partnership.
Well, to begin with, we would like to clarify that there is no procedure or procedure called “unmarried partner”; what exists is the procedure for the EU citizen’s family card, which within the group of what is understood as family members is both the spouse (by marriage) and the unmarried partner, that is, if you have a unmarried partner, and you do not have papers, you can apply for this card. In other words, the unmarried partner is a civil procedure (as is marriage), which, depending on whether you meet a series of requirements, can allow you to obtain a benefit from the immigration authorities.
Next, we must point out that, unlike marriage, there is no uniform regulation throughout the national territory, but rather each Autonomous Community has powers to regulate the formalisation of unmarried couples in its territory, or what is the same, taking into account that in Spain there are 17 Autonomous Communities, there are 17 different regulations for formalising an unmarried couple, which varies greatly depending on whether you are in one territory or another. In this blog we will only talk about the territory of Catalonia, which is the one we know best, however, if you have any doubts about the application in another territory, do not hesitate to contact us and we will inform you.
The first thing we have to point out about the procedure with the immigration authorities is that it is not enough to have a stable partner to be able to obtain this permit, but you also have to meet a series of requirements, which are detailed below:
EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP: One of the partners must be a national of a European Union member state, plus nationals of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. This is a basic requirement, because even if your partner or spouse has, for example, long-term residence, this does not entitle you to the EU family member card simply because he or she does not have any of the above-mentioned nationalities.
ACCREDITATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP: Obviously, if we are talking about marriage, the link is accredited simply with a marriage certificate, but in the case of a domestic partnership it is a little more complicated. In the case of Catalonia, the accreditation of being an unmarried partner can be done in one of the following ways:
Accrediting 2 years of cohabitation (accreditation that is done with a historical census of the couple).
Proving that you have a child in common (regardless of how long you have been living together).
In the event of not being in any of the above cases, by formalising the partnership before a notary. This case gives rise to a lot of confusion, as each Notary requires different requirements; there are those who will ask for a birth certificate, those who require a minimum of cohabitation (6 months or 1 year) and some even ask for witnesses, but our office works with Notaries who only require that the couple is living together (no time limit), and that they simply go to the Notary to state that they want to become a common law couple.
ECONOMIC RESOURCES OF THE UNION CITIZEN: This point is very important, as we want to make it clear that it is NOT enough to be the unmarried partner of someone with European citizenship, if they do not have economic resources that accredit that this citizen can minimally support their partner. These resources will be based on what is established each year in the annual state budgets for the minimum non-contributory pensions, so that the EU citizen has to prove 100% of the minimum pension, and for his or her partner 70%. Currently, the amount available for the year 2021 is 9,586.64 euros per year, which can be accredited either with a work contract or pension of some kind, or with a bank account balance of at least the aforementioned amount, although in the latter case it will also be necessary to take out a private health insurance policy, with no deficiencies and no co-payments, which covers the health care that would shield the public health service.
Once we are sure that our unmarried partner relationship meets the necessary requirements to be able to obtain the EU citizen family card, the procedure to follow is as follows:
1.- To register the partnership with the “Registre de parelles estables de la Generalitat de Catalunya”, which can be done directly (if you have been living together for 2 years or if you have a child in common), or if you have first gone to a Notary, it is the Notary who is responsible for directly registering the partnership in the aforementioned public register, after signing the public deed.
2.- Regardless of the way in which the registration has been carried out, within approximately 1 month we will receive a certificate of registration in the public register, at which point we can present the file at the Immigration Office, which will decide on our request within a period of time that will vary depending on the province where we present it.
However, if you need legal advice on how to obtain your unmarried partner residence permit, or other immigration issues, do not hesitate to contact Extranjeristas on 931454520.