Bringing a spouse on a student visa: the paperwork, country by country

Whether your wife or husband can join you is decided by national law, not by EU law: the EU directive that covers students and researchers grants family reunification rights to researchers, and leaves students to each country. That is why the answers below diverge so sharply, and why anyone describing "the European rule" is describing a country they have not named.

This article is about the paperwork — who files, from where, and what has to be attached. Which countries are worth attempting at all is ranked in the nine countries ranked for bringing your family, and the work question is in your spouse's right to work, country by country.

Who files, where, and with what

⚠️ Confirm every row with the authority itself before building a plan on it. Family migration is the fastest-changing part of European immigration law and several of these countries tightened it within the last two years. This table tells you where to ask; it is not a decision.

The apostille trap, in one paragraph

Bangladesh joined the Apostille Convention and it came into force on 30 March 2025, which for most purposes replaced the old chain of notary, foreign ministry and embassy stamps with a single apostille certificate. But Denmark, Greece and Finland objected under Article 12, so the convention does not operate between Bangladesh and those three. A marriage certificate apostilled for Finland is a marriage certificate with a useless sticker on it. Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Sweden and Bulgaria accept the apostille. The full list and the mechanics are in which countries refuse Bangladesh's apostille, and the underlying process in document attestation and apostille.

The marriage certificate itself

For most Bangladeshi couples the document chain runs like this, and each step takes days rather than hours:

1. 1The nikahnama or civil marriage record held by the registrar.
2. 2The Marriage Registration Certificate issued in the registrar's English form, or the Bengali original with a certified English translation — see certified translation of documents in Dhaka.
3. 3Verification and attestation on the Bangladesh side.
4. 4Then either an apostille, or the full consular legalisation chain ending at the destination country's mission, depending on the country in the table above.

Names must match your passports exactly. A spelling that differs between the nikahnama and the passport is the most common reason these files stall, and it is fixed on the Bangladesh side, not in Europe. The document list for dependants is in marriage certificates and dependant documents.

The two tests that actually decide it

Money. Every country that permits this requires you to show support for two people without public funds, on top of your own requirement. Sweden publishes a monthly figure per family member and revises it annually; Finland publishes an income requirement table; Italy ties the threshold to the national social allowance and adds an increment per family member. A student on part-time earnings does not meet these in year one, which is why the practical answer is often no even where the legal answer is yes.

Housing. Italy also requires a municipal certificate that the accommodation is suitable for the number of occupants. A room in a shared flat does not qualify. This alone ends most student applications before the income test is reached.

The sequence that usually works

1. 1Go first, alone, and file from inside the country once you have a registered address, a bank account and real documents rather than projections. Timing is in when you can bring family after arriving.
2. 2Both apply as students. Two admissions remove the dependant question completely, and two proof-of-funds files are often easier to build than one enlarged one.
3. 3Wait for the work permit. Family rules attached to a work permit are considerably more generous in most of the nine. The route is in from student to work permit.

For the two countries where a first-year application is genuinely realistic, read bringing family to Finland as a student; for the country most often misdescribed in Dhaka, read bringing a spouse to Denmark as a student.

Say this out loud before you start

A spouse who cannot work, cannot study without their own permit and does not speak the language will spend a year in a flat in a foreign city. Where the rules allow it and the money is genuinely there, it works. Where the money is being assembled to pass a test, it does not — and the refusal costs both applications.