What the 2-Year Wait Rule Is and How It Works
Law 61/2025, Portugal's major immigration reform enacted on October 22, 2025, introduced a 2-year minimum residence requirement before a permit holder may sponsor family members to join them in Portugal through family reunification. Before Law 61/2025, a foreign national who obtained a Portuguese residence permit — whether through employment, the CPLP program, a student visa route, or any other category — could in principle apply for family reunification immediately, or even simultaneously with their own permit application. The new rule changes this: the sponsor must have held a valid Portuguese residence permit for at least 2 continuous years before the family reunification application may be submitted.
The 2-year clock runs from the date the sponsor was first granted a Portuguese residence permit, not from the date of arrival in Portugal. If a permit holder had a prior permit that lapsed before renewal — creating a gap in legal residence — the continuity calculation may be affected. AIMA assesses continuity based on whether the holder was in lawful status throughout, and short gaps caused by AIMA's own processing delays (where an application was submitted on time but not decided before the prior permit expired) are generally not counted against the applicant, provided the renewal was filed in time. Longer gaps, or gaps caused by not filing renewals on time, break the continuity clock. The standard AIMA position is to require the 2 continuous years of actual permit validity, not simply 2 calendar years of presence in Portugal.
The transitional provision that allowed applications under the prior rules ran for 180 days from October 22, 2025, closing on April 21, 2026. During that window, applicants who could demonstrate that the family relationship was established before Law 61/2025 entered into force — typically through marriage, registered partnership, or birth of a child — could apply under the old rules without waiting 2 years. That window is now closed. Applications submitted from April 22, 2026 onward are assessed exclusively under the new framework. Applicants who did not file during the transitional window and do not fall into an exemption category must now wait for the 2-year mark.
Who Is Exempt from the 2-Year Wait
Law 61/2025 built in several categorical exemptions from the 2-year residence requirement. The most important for the mainstream immigrant population concerns parents of children. If the family member being sponsored is a minor child who is already in Portugal as a Portuguese national or as a legal resident, or if the sponsor is the parent of a minor child who is a Portuguese national, the 2-year wait is waived. The policy rationale is that the best interests of the child take precedence — a parent should not wait 2 years to be reunified with a minor child already established in Portugal.
A second exemption covers holders of D3 permits for highly qualified workers and EU Blue Card holders. These permit categories were carved out because they target workers with skills in shortage areas — technology, research, healthcare, senior management — and Portugal's competition for these workers with other EU destinations made a 2-year barrier counterproductive. A worker who comes to Portugal on a D3 or Blue Card can apply for family reunification immediately, without waiting 2 years. The sponsoring permit holder still needs to meet the income and housing adequacy requirements, but not the time-in-residence requirement.
Golden Visa (ARI — Autorização de Residência para Investimento) holders are also exempt from the 2-year wait. Golden Visa holders are a distinct category: their permit is granted on the basis of qualifying investment, not residence in Portugal. Requiring them to wait 2 years before family reunification — when their own permit does not require them to actually live in Portugal for 2 years — would be internally inconsistent. AIMA accepts Golden Visa family reunification applications from the date the investment permit is granted.
A fifth exemption category applies to EU citizens' family members. The 2-year rule applies to permit holders under the Foreigners Law (Lei n.º 23/2007, as amended). EU citizens and their family members are governed by EU Directive 2004/38/EC and its Portuguese implementing legislation, which does not permit a 2-year wait for family reunification. An EU citizen's non-EU spouse or child retains the right to join them in Portugal without any minimum-residence waiting period for the EU citizen sponsor. This exemption applies to all EU and EEA nationals and their immediate family members, not just Portuguese citizens. A Spanish, French, or German national living in Portugal can sponsor their non-EU spouse immediately.
The 15-Month Exception for Long-Term Couples
Alongside the categorical exemptions, Law 61/2025 established a reduced waiting period for couples who can prove they were cohabiting abroad before the sponsor's move to Portugal. The standard rule requires 2 years. The exception applies where both partners lived together — sharing the same residence — for at least 18 consecutive months before the sponsor obtained their Portuguese permit. Couples meeting this threshold may apply for family reunification after 15 months of the sponsor's Portuguese permit, rather than waiting the full 24 months.
The practical effect is a 9-month reduction in the wait for qualifying couples — from 2 years down to 15 months. This matters because 9 months of family separation is a significant period, and the exception recognizes that a couple who lived together for a year and a half before the sponsor's move to Portugal are being reunified, not newly united. The distinction the law draws is between partners who have established a genuine shared life and are now separated by the move, versus partners who are using family reunification as an initial path to Portugal for someone with whom they did not previously cohabit.
AIMA's evidentiary requirements for the 18-month cohabitation claim are strict and require contemporaneous documentation. Oral statements, declarations from family members, and WhatsApp chat histories are insufficient. What AIMA requires is documentary evidence from the cohabitation period itself: joint lease agreements in both names, joint utility bill accounts showing both names at the same address, joint bank statements showing the same address, registered civil partnership certificates, correspondence addressed to both persons at the same address, or insurance policies listing both at the same household. AIMA officers cross-reference the dates on these documents against the claimed 18-month period and against the date the sponsor's Portuguese permit was issued. If the cohabitation documentation only covers part of the claimed period, or if the documents are not contemporaneous, the exception claim is likely to fail and the standard 24-month wait applies.
Marriage does not substitute for cohabitation proof. A couple married for 10 years can still fail the 18-month cohabitation test if they lived in different countries or cities for most of that marriage. Conversely, an unmarried couple who shared an apartment for 2 years before the sponsor's move to Portugal qualifies — provided they can document the shared residence. The law does not require marriage or formal partnership registration, only proof of shared residence. This is deliberate: many long-term couples, particularly in countries where civil registry is expensive or administratively complex, cohabit without formalizing the relationship, and the law aims to capture genuine shared-life situations rather than paper relationships.
What Counts as Family Members Under Portuguese Law
Portuguese family reunification law defines the "family members" eligible for reunification through a defined list. The core categories are: spouse or registered civil partner; minor children (under 18) of the sponsor or spouse, whether born in or out of wedlock and whether biological or legally adopted; minor children under shared or sole parental custody; adult children who are unmarried and financially dependent on the sponsor or their spouse; dependent parents of the sponsor or spouse (where the sponsor is economically able to support them); and minor siblings of the sponsor, where the sponsor holds legal guardianship.
A few categories require additional clarification in the Portuguese context. For adult children claimed as dependents, AIMA requires proof of actual financial dependency — bank records showing regular transfers from the sponsor, or documentation that the adult child has no independent source of income. The fact of being an adult child is not alone sufficient; dependency must be demonstrated in fact, not presumed from the family relationship. For dependent parents, AIMA similarly requires evidence that the parent actually depends economically on the sponsor — particularly if the parent has a pension or income source of their own in the country of origin, which would complicate a dependency claim.
Second and subsequent spouses or partners create complications where there is a previous marriage. AIMA requires documentation confirming that prior marriages are dissolved — divorce decrees from the relevant jurisdiction, apostilled. Portugal does not recognize bigamous relationships, and a sponsor who presents a marriage certificate from a jurisdiction where a prior marriage was not dissolved will face a refusal. In jurisdictions where divorce is not legally available (rare but present in some countries), the legal situation requires analysis by an immigration attorney before a family reunification application is submitted.
The AIMA Application Process and What to Expect
The family reunification process has two stages. The first stage is the AIMA application for authorization — the sponsor submits documentation in Portugal demonstrating that they meet the requirements, and AIMA issues a decision in principle authorizing the family member's reunification. The second stage is the visa application: once AIMA's authorization is obtained, the family member applies for a family reunification visa at the Portuguese consulate in their country of residence. Both stages take time, and the total elapsed time from starting the process to a family member arriving in Portugal with legal status has consistently exceeded 12 months for applicants navigating AIMA's current backlog.
The AIMA application is submitted in Portugal by the sponsor. An appointment must be booked through the AIMA portal at aima.gov.pt under the family reunification category. The sponsor brings the full document package to the appointment: their own permit and proof of 2 years of residence (or exemption documentation), documents establishing the family relationship, proof of housing adequacy, and proof of income. AIMA officers review the file at the appointment and may accept it or request additional documents. Where the file is complete, AIMA enters it into the processing queue. The 90-working-day decision clock begins from the date of formal acceptance of a complete file — not from the appointment date if documents were missing at the first visit.
Income requirements under Law 61/2025 are set relative to the Portuguese minimum wage (RMMG — Retribuição Mínima Mensal Garantida, currently €1,020 gross per month in 2026). The sponsor must demonstrate monthly net income of at least 1× RMMG for themselves, plus 50% of RMMG per additional adult family member being sponsored, plus 30% of RMMG per child. This means a sponsor bringing a spouse and two children needs to show net income of approximately 1 + 0.5 + 0.3 + 0.3 = 2.1× RMMG, or roughly €2,142 net per month. Income from all legal sources is counted — employment income, self-employment income, rental income, pension income — but must be verifiable through Portuguese tax records (IRS declarations, proof of tax residency) or employer declarations.
Common Rejection Reasons and How to Appeal
AIMA rejects family reunification applications for a small set of recurring reasons. The most common is the 2-year residence requirement — applicants who submitted without reaching the 24-month mark, without a qualifying exemption, face immediate refusal on this basis. The second most common is inadequate income: the sponsor's demonstrated income does not meet the formula requirement for the family size being sponsored. Third is inadequate housing: the rental contract covers a space that is too small for the family, or the contract is not in the sponsor's name, or the housing is shared accommodation that AIMA judges inconsistent with a family's needs. Fourth is missing or deficient documentation: family relationship documents not properly apostilled, criminal records older than 90 days, translations not certified.
A AIMA rejection is issued in writing and must state the legal basis for the refusal. The sponsor has the right to appeal administratively within 15 working days (reclamação or recurso hierárquico) or to challenge the decision in the Administrative Court within 2 months. The administrative appeal path — filing a reclamação within AIMA — is the faster and lower-cost route for clear procedural errors, such as AIMA misapplying the income formula or failing to count all income sources. For substantive refusals — where AIMA has correctly applied the rules but the applicant disagrees with the policy outcome — the administrative court route is required.
When appealing income-based rejections, applicants should compile all available income documentation that was not included in the original application — tax declarations, bank statements showing regular income, employer letters confirming salary, proof of rental income from properties in Portugal or abroad. An appeal that simply restates the same evidence already reviewed by AIMA is unlikely to succeed. The goal is to demonstrate that the income exists and is sustainable, and that AIMA's calculation was incorrect or incomplete. Where income genuinely does not meet the formula, the only substantive solution is either waiting until income increases, expanding the income base (some applicants add a co-sponsor or guarantor), or limiting the reunification request to fewer family members to bring the income-to-family-size ratio above the threshold.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the 2-year wait for family reunification come into effect in Portugal?
Law 61/2025 entered into force on October 22, 2025. The transitional window for applications under prior rules closed on April 21, 2026. All family reunification applications submitted from April 22, 2026 onward require the sponsor to have held a Portuguese permit for at least 2 continuous years, unless a categorical exemption applies.
What are the main exemptions from the 2-year waiting period?
Exemptions include: parents of minor children who are Portuguese nationals or residents in Portugal; D3 highly qualified worker permit holders; Golden Visa (ARI) holders; EU citizens' family members (governed by a different legal framework); and, with proof, the 15-month reduced wait for couples who cohabited abroad for at least 18 months before the sponsor's Portuguese permit.
Does the 15-month cohabitation exception apply to married couples?
Being married is not sufficient — you must prove actual shared residence for 18+ months abroad before the sponsor's move to Portugal. Joint lease agreements, utility bills in both names, or joint bank statements showing the same address are required. AIMA does not accept marriage certificates or family declarations as cohabitation proof without contemporaneous shared-address documents.
How long does AIMA take to decide a family reunification application?
The legal deadline is 90 working days. In practice in 2025-2026, waits have ranged from 6 months to over a year. If AIMA exceeds 90 working days, the effective remedy is a court injunction (providência cautelar). A Provedor de Justiça complaint can also apply pressure at lower cost before escalating to court.
What documents does AIMA require for a family reunification application?
Core documents: sponsor's valid permit and proof of 2 years' residence (or exemption); apostilled marriage/birth/partnership certificate; proof of adequate housing (rental contract appropriate for family size); proof of income meeting the RMMG-based formula; criminal record certificates for all adult family members being reunified; valid passports for all. All foreign documents must be apostilled and translated by a certified translator.