Family reunification files for children fail on paperwork far more often than on eligibility, and stepchildren bring requirements that catch blended families off guard. Consent from a parent remaining abroad and correctly legalised civil documents are the two recurring sticking points.
For a child joining a parent from outside the EU, the core paperwork is a valid passport, a birth certificate proving the parent-child link (legalised or apostilled, plus a certified translation into Dutch, English, French or German), and proof that the sponsoring parent has legal parental authority (gezag). If custody is shared with a parent staying behind, that parent generally needs to give legalised written consent to the relocation — or you need a court document establishing sole custody. Stepchildren add a layer: proof of the sponsor's relationship (usually marriage or registered partnership) to the biological parent, plus a consent or non-objection statement from the child's other biological parent. Children 12 and over typically need an antecedents (good conduct) certificate, and a TB test is usually required shortly after arrival, with exemptions for some nationalities. The application carries an €85 fee and the same 90-day statutory decision period as other family applications. Unlike the asylum-based family reunification process, there's no strict three-month filing deadline for stepchildren here — but incomplete files still just slow everything down.