Who counts as family, and who quietly does not

Every residence and citizenship programme advertises that it covers the family. The word covers different people in each of them, and the exclusions surface after the main applicant has committed.

Almost always included

• A legally married spouse, evidenced by a certificate that will need legalising.
• Minor children of the applicant, biological or legally adopted.

Sometimes included, on conditions

• Adult children — commonly up to a defined age, frequently conditional on being unmarried and financially dependent, sometimes on being in full-time education. The evidence of dependency is real and documented.
• Parents and grandparents — included in some programmes on higher financial requirements, excluded entirely in others.
• Siblings — rare, and generally only where dependency can be shown.
• Domestic staff — in a small number of programmes, as a separate category.

The exclusions that cause trouble

• Unmarried partners. Many jurisdictions do not recognise cohabitation regardless of duration, and several Gulf and Asian systems do not recognise same-sex marriage. A relationship that is legally a marriage in one country may be nothing in another, and that determines whether a partner can be sponsored at all.
• Children of a previous relationship where the other parent has custody rights. Removing a child across borders requires the other parent's consent, and its absence stops the application whatever the programme says.
• Stepchildren, which some systems treat as family and others do not.
• Adult children who marry during the process, and thereby cease to qualify as dependants mid-application.

The timing point

Family composition is assessed at defined moments — at application, sometimes at approval, sometimes at each renewal. A child who turns eighteen between filing and decision may be treated differently by the two dates, and programmes differ on which one governs.

The practical instruction: list every person who must be covered, with their ages and status at the likely decision date, and get the programme's position on each in writing before paying anything. The main applicant's eligibility is rarely the problem; the family's frequently is.