TIE HoyEU family residence retention — what changes after separation?
Identify the event and prove the Article 9 ground. Notify the competent authority; this is not a Spanish-family independence application.
Do I automatically lose my residence right?
Not necessarily. Article 9 provides event-specific retention grounds.
Death, departure and divorce have different conditions.
A valid plastic card alone does not settle whether your right is retained.
Must I submit a new independent-card application?
Article 9 requires notification and evidence for the relevant event; it does not create the Spanish-family Article 99 procedure.
Do not invent an EX-19 independence box or import a six-month Spanish-family deadline.
Death or departure
After the citizen’s death, a non-EU relative who resided in Spain as family before the death can retain the right and must notify the authority.
If the citizen leaves or dies, children studying in Spain and their actual custodial parent retain the right until those studies end.
Divorce or partnership cancellation
Prove one Article 9.4 ground: relationship lasting three years before proceedings, including one in Spain;
custody; qualifying gender violence or trafficking; or an effective right of access to a minor in Spain.
These are alternatives, not a checklist everyone must meet.
What to do
Identify the event, document your ground and notify the authority.
Bring
- Passport and existing family card
- Death/divorce/partnership-cancellation evidence
- Spanish residence and relationship-duration evidence for the relevant ground
- Custody, visitation, schooling or protection evidence when applicable
Steps
- Record the event date and obtain the official event document.
- Match your circumstances to Article 9.
- Identify your competent Extranjería office and use its event-notification channel.
- Submit the event and retention evidence; keep a dated filing receipt.
- Follow any further request stated in the authority’s notice.
Basis
Article 9.2–4 distinguishes death, schoolchildren/custodial-parent retention and divorce/cancellation grounds, with event notification duties.