Bringing family to Europe as a student
When studying in Europe, it is possible to bring family members under certain conditions.
Bringing your family as an EU national
As a citizen of a European Union (EU) country, you can bring your spouse and children for up to 3 months to another country in the EU without registering them, if they are also citizens of an EU country.
You may still need to report your presence. If you and your family would like to stay for longer than 3 months, you need to register your residence.
Non-EU family members of EU students may need to apply for an entry visa for short stays up to 90 days. For stays longer than 3 months, your family members must register their residence with the relevant national authorities.
Bringing your family to Europe as a non-EU student
As a non-EU student, you can bring your family members for a stay of up to 90 days if they apply for a Tourist Schengen Visa.
For stays longer than 90 days, family members must apply for a residence permit. Before your family members can apply for a residence permit (also called ‘Family Visa’), you need to have a residence permit yourself.
It is important to be well prepared. There are many things to arrange before your family members can join you for your study adventure in Europe.
Important things to consider when applying for a visa for your family members
- you may need to provide proof that you have sufficient financial resources to take care of your family members
- you will likely need to find suitable housing for yourself and your family and provide proof of this in the form of a rental agreement
- you may also need to show medical certificates, marriage certificates and/or birth certificates for your family members
- make sure you carefully check the conditions to apply for a residence permit for family members for the relevant EU country. You can find the specific conditions for each EU country on the relevant governmental website(s) or at the embassy of that EU country.
- collect all necessary documents on time. This can be a time-consuming process. The documents may need to be officially stamped and translated before you can submit them for the visa application.
Check the country pages to find more information about visa and residence permits per country.