Can my spouse and children come with me on a D8 visa?

Family can travel with you on the D8 as accompanying family members, filing at the same consulate at the same time. The alternative, arriving alone and bringing them over afterwards, is the slow road since the 2025 reform.

Why applying together matters now

Under Lei 61/2025, which amended the Foreigners Law and took effect on 23 October 2025, a resident sponsor must generally hold a valid residence permit for two years before requesting family reunification. A couple who can document at least eighteen months of prior cohabitation drops to fifteen months. There is no waiting period for parents of minor children, for D3 highly qualified permit holders or for Golden Visa holders. Once filed, AIMA has nine months to decide, extendable in complex cases but never where children are involved, and the family member then applies for a D6 visa at the consulate before registering with AIMA on arrival.

The income question, and where to find the real numbers

Everyone agrees the main applicant needs an average of 3,680 euros a month over the last three months in 2026, four times the 920 euro minimum wage. What a spouse or child adds on top is genuinely disputed. One reading, built on Portugal's means of subsistence rules, adds 460 euros a month for a spouse and 276 euros per child. A stricter reading some advisers use instead applies the D8 multiplier to the whole household, adding 1,840 euros per spouse and 1,104 euros per child. No official page settles which one a consulate should apply, so we have worked through both readings, with the savings figures and the legal text behind each, in our post on the D8 visa family income requirement. Plan on the higher figure and confirm the exact amount in writing with the consulate or visa centre handling your file.

Practical notes

Each applicant pays the 110 euro national visa fee, though children under six are exempt, as are descendants joining under family reunification. Every adult family member needs their own apostilled and translated criminal record certificate, plus insurance covering the stay. Bring apostilled marriage and birth certificates. Reunified family members carry integration duties: Portuguese language and civic values training, and compulsory schooling for minors, with non compliance able to block a later renewal.

See the D8 guide for the full document list.