Spain Visa & Residence Refusal Appeals — English-Speaking Lawyer

Residence permit refused in Spain: what you can do

A refusal from the Immigration Office (Oficina de Extranjería) feels final, but it rarely is. Spanish law gives you three main ways to challenge it, and each has its own deadline and its own strategy.

Which one suits your case depends on who issued the decision and why it was refused. Many refusals come down to a file that was incomplete or poorly argued — an appeal is the chance to fix exactly that.

• Recurso de reposición (reconsideration appeal): filed with the same body that refused you, within 1 month of notification. It lets you correct the file and add what was missing.
• Recurso de alzada (hierarchical appeal): filed with the body above the one that decided, within 1 month, when the decision does not close the administrative route.
• Recurso contencioso-administrativo (judicial review): taking the case before the administrative courts, within 2 months. An independent judge — not the office that refused you — reviews the decision.
• One warning: as a general rule in Spain, if the administration simply never answers, silence counts as a refusal. Don't wait indefinitely for a reply that isn't coming — get advice as soon as your deadline to a decision has passed.

Spain visa refusal: appeal deadlines

If a Spanish consulate refused your visa — work, family, study, non-lucrative or any other type — you have two ways to fight the decision, and both are run entirely on paper, so it makes no difference where in the world you are.

There is no promise of any outcome — no honest lawyer can give you one — but many visa refusals rest on grounds that can be rebutted with the right evidence: financial means, the purpose of your stay, or documents the consulate says were missing. We tell you frankly whether your case is worth appealing before you spend a euro.

• Reconsideration appeal (recurso de reposición): filed with the same consulate that refused the visa, within 1 month of notification.
• Judicial review (recurso contencioso-administrativo): before the High Court of Justice of Madrid (Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid), within 2 months. All consular visa refusals are heard in Madrid, wherever the consulate sits.
• Individuals do not pay court fees in Spain, so going to court is far more accessible than most people assume.

TIE renewal refused: UK nationals under the Withdrawal Agreement

If you are British and live in Spain under the Withdrawal Agreement, a refused TIE renewal usually comes down to one of two things: absences from Spain, or paperwork problems in the file.

The absence rules depend on which stage you are at. On a temporary Withdrawal Agreement permit, absences of more than six months in a year can put the continuity of your residence in question, with only limited exceptions for important reasons. Once you hold permanent Withdrawal Agreement residence, the position is much stronger: you only lose it after more than five consecutive years outside Spain.

Be careful not to mix these residence rules up with tax-residence rules — they are separate legal tests, and confusing them is a common source of bad advice and wrong decisions. If the office has miscounted your absences, applied the wrong rule or ignored your evidence, the refusal can be appealed: 1 month for a reconsideration appeal, 2 months for judicial review.

Arraigo application denied

Arraigo is the Spanish route to residence based on the life you have already built here — years lived in Spain, work, or family ties. Refusals are common and often fixable: gaps in the padrón (town hall register), doubts about financial means, or problems with the job offer or contract.

Arraigo has one feature worth knowing. Unlike most immigration procedures, where the administration's silence counts as a refusal, in arraigo silence works in your favour: as a general rule, if the legal deadline to decide passes with no answer, the application is understood to be granted. Whether you are facing an express refusal or an office that never replied, it is worth having the file reviewed.

If your arraigo was refused, the deadlines are the usual ones: 1 month for a reconsideration appeal before the same office, 2 months to take the case to court.

Asylum refused: act quickly

A refusal of international protection is one of the hardest letters to receive, because what may follow is removal from Spain. It can be challenged before the administrative courts, and how fast you move matters more here than in any other procedure.

Alongside the court case there is the possibility of suspensive interim relief: asking the judge to suspend the effects of the decision — including removal — while the case is being heard. This protection is never automatic. It always has to be requested and properly argued, which is why we prepare that request from day one, together with the appeal itself.

If your asylum claim has been refused, contact us before doing anything else. The first consultation is free and confidential, and we work in English, Arabic, French and Spanish.