Arraigo refused: which appeal, and the clock running
Last updated 2026-09-01 · Reviewed by Jaime Piñeira Pardo, registered with the ICAM bar, no. 138826
The short answer
There are two routes against a refusal of arraigo: a recurso de reposición (an appeal to the same authority that refused), within one month of notification, or a contencioso-administrativo court claim, within two months. The choice depends on the real ground for the refusal. Once the deadline passes the decision is final, and reapplying does not recover the lost time.
You have been living in Spain for years. You gathered the historical padrón, the arraigo report, an employment contract, and filed the application. Months later a two-page decision arrives refusing it. The ground fits in one line: that your continuous presence is not considered proven, or that the contract you filed does not satisfy the authority. Nobody has explained that the clock has been running since the day after notification, or that filing a fresh application neither stops it nor cures what the authority held against you.
The case, in five lines
- What is brought
- A recurso de reposición against the refusal or, instead, a contencioso-administrativo claim seeking its annulment and recognition of the right to the residence authorisation.
- Before which court
- The same authority that issued the refusal, if the reposición is chosen; if the matter goes to court, the sección de lo Contencioso-Administrativo del Tribunal de Instancia (the administrative-law section of the first-instance court).
- Deadline
- One month for the reposición where the decision is express, under art. 124.1 of Law 39/2015, and two months for the court claim under art. 46.1 LJCA. Both run from the day after notification.
- Who can bring it
- The foreign national whose application was refused and to whom the decision was notified, acting personally or through a representative with sufficient authority.
- Financial risk
- The court claim may end with an order to pay costs if it is dismissed, and it requires a payment on account and legal representation. The reposición carries no court cost, but it consumes time and rarely changes the mind of the authority that already refused.
Reapplying for arraigo is not the same as appealing the refusal
The decision refusing your authorisation is an administrative act, and as such it becomes final if nobody challenges it in time. A fresh application opens a fresh file, with its own examination and its own decision, but it does not review the earlier one or erase what was declared in it. The objection the authority raised against you remains standing and will surface again in the second file.
The price of confusing the two is time. While you gather documents to apply again, the one month of art. 124.1 of Law 39/2015 and the two months of art. 46.1 LJCA are both running. Once they expire, that refusal is no longer open to argument: it becomes the precedent the authority will invoke and that the court can no longer annul.
One month or two: choosing the route has consequences
Art. 123.1 of Law 39/2015 provides that acts which exhaust the administrative route may optionally be challenged by a reposición appeal before the very authority that issued them, or be challenged directly before the contencioso-administrativo courts. They are alternatives, not compulsory steps: nobody must go through the reposición before turning to the court, and choosing well is the first decision of the case.
Art. 123.2 adds a rule that bites: once a reposición is filed, no court claim may be brought until it has been expressly resolved or has been deemed refused by silence. Anyone who files the reposición and days later also files the court claim risks having it declared inadmissible as premature, and by then the starting point of the art. 46.1 deadline will have changed.
Administrative silence does not leave you without a remedy
Art. 124.2 of Law 39/2015 sets one month as the maximum time to issue and notify the decision on the reposición. If that month passes with no answer, art. 46.4 LJCA solves the problem: the two months for going to court run from the day after the express decision on the optional appeal is notified, or from the day it must be deemed refused by silence.
Art. 46.1 LJCA also covers the absence of an express act: where the act is not express, the deadline is six months, counted, for the applicant and other possible interested parties, from the day after the deemed act arises under its own specific rules. In parallel, art. 124.1 allows a reposición to be filed at any time from that same day.
Arraigo has five doors and only one was closed to you
Art. 125.1 of Royal Decree 1155/2024 states that a temporary residence authorisation on arraigo grounds is granted to a person present in Spain where there are ties with the place of residence, whether economic, social, family, work or educational, and it lists five types: arraigo de segunda oportunidad, sociolaboral, social, socioformativo and familiar, subject to the requirements of its arts. 126 and 127.
That matters in the appeal. A refusal usually answers the particular type applied for, not the person: someone who cannot prove the work tie may well prove the educational or family one. Art. 125.2 adds a fact that weighs in the strategy, since these authorisations last one year, except arraigo familiar, which lasts five years.
What the appeal argues is the reasoning, not sympathy
An appeal that merely repeats that you are a good person who has been here many years does not win. What is fought is the specific reasoning of the decision: if it says continuous presence is not proven, that is proven with the historical padrón, medical records and school enrolments; if it says the contract is insufficient, the corrected contract and the employer's real solvency are filed.
The financial risk must be measured too. Contencioso-administrativo proceedings take time and may end in an order to pay costs if the claim is dismissed, so the decision to litigate is taken with the full file in front of you, not with the bare decision. Where the ground for refusal can be cured and the authority accepts it, the reposición can settle the matter in weeks.
How we run the case, step by step
- 1
Fix the exact date of notification
We locate the notification receipt, on paper or in the electronic portal, and set the following day as the start of the count. The month under art. 124.1 and the two months under art. 46.1 both depend on that date, and it decides whether there is still room.
- 2
Obtain the full administrative file
The decision summarises; the file explains. We request the complete copy in order to read the police report, the arraigo report and the internal notes that reveal the true ground, which often does not match the one written in the operative part.
- 3
Choose the route and do not mix them
With the ground identified we choose the reposición, if it can be cured, or the direct court claim, if the authority's position is entrenched. Art. 123.2 bars going to court while the reposición remains undecided or not yet deemed refused.
- 4
Appeal brief with the missing evidence
The appeal is drafted attacking the reasoning point by point and enclosing what was not filed at the time: historical padrón, arraigo report, corrected contract or training certificates. It expressly asks that the right to the authorisation be recognised, not merely that the refusal be annulled.
- 5
Contencioso-administrativo claim
If the reposición is dismissed or its deadline lapses, the claim is brought before the sección de lo Contencioso-Administrativo del Tribunal de Instancia (the administrative-law section of the first-instance court), with a statement of case, documentary evidence and a request for recognition of the individual legal position.
- 6
Enforcing a favourable judgment
A favourable judgment does not enforce itself. It is communicated to the authority, we monitor that the granting decision is issued and, if it is not, enforcement is sought before the same court that gave judgment, with a deadline set.
The evidence that decides the case
- The historical and collective padrón certificate, showing the continuous dates the authority claims not to see.
- The arraigo or social integration report issued by the autonomous community or the town hall, with its date of issue.
- The signed employment contract, showing hours and pay, together with the employer's social security record and evidence of its solvency.
- The passport with the entry and exit stamps that the decision read as a break in continuous presence.
- Enrolment records, school reports or course certificates supporting the educational tie referred to in art. 125.1.
- The receipt of notification of the refusal, which fixes the starting day of every deadline.
What closes the door
- Filing a fresh application in the belief that it replaces the appeal. It opens another file, does not review the earlier one, and lets the refusal become final.
- Filing the reposición and then the court claim without waiting for it to be decided or deemed refused, contrary to art. 123.2 of Law 39/2015.
- Appealing without filing the very document whose absence caused the refusal, so the authority confirms its decision on the same reasoning.
- Letting the month run while waiting for a call from the Oficina de Extranjería that never comes, and finding out later that only the court route remains.
- Not keeping the notification receipt, so it becomes impossible to prove when the deadline started if lateness is contested.
The law that applies
- Art. 123 de la Ley 39/2015. Acts that exhaust the administrative route may optionally be challenged by a reposición before the same authority, or challenged directly before the contencioso-administrativo courts, and the court route is closed until a reposición already filed is expressly decided or deemed refused. BOE-A-2015-10565
- Art. 124 de la Ley 39/2015. The reposición must be filed within one month where the act is express; where it is not, it may be filed at any time from the day after the deemed act arises. The authority has one month to decide and notify, and no further reposición lies against that decision. BOE-A-2015-10565
- Art. 46 LJCA. The court claim is brought within two months from the day after notification of the express act that exhausts the administrative route, or within six months from the day after the deemed act arises; where a reposición was filed, the two months run from its express decision or from the point it is deemed refused. BOE-A-1998-16718
- Art. 125 del RD 1155/2024. It grants temporary residence on arraigo grounds to a person present in Spain with economic, social, family, work or educational ties to the place of residence, in five types: segunda oportunidad, sociolaboral, social, socioformativo and familiar. They last one year, except arraigo familiar, which lasts five. BOE-A-2024-24099
Each article checked against the consolidated text published in the BOE (the Spanish official gazette).
Frequently asked questions
Is the reposición better for me, or going straight to court?
It depends on the ground. If the refusal rests on a document that exists and was not filed, the reposición before the same authority can settle it in weeks and at no court cost. If the ground is an interpretation that authority applies systematically, the reposición usually confirms it, and the effective route is the direct claim within the two months of art. 46.1 LJCA.
If I apply for arraigo again, do I lose the appeal?
A fresh application does not extinguish the appeal, but neither does it replace it. They are two separate files: one argues whether the refusal was lawful, the other examines a new request. The real danger is the calendar, because while the second application is being prepared the month of art. 124.1 and the two months of art. 46.1 expire, and the refusal becomes final.
May I work while the appeal is decided?
The appeal alone does not grant the authorisation you were refused, so it creates no right to work. What can be requested, alongside the challenge, is suspension of the effects of the decision where immediate enforcement would cause you harm that is hard to repair. It is a request that must be reasoned and proved, not automatic.
What happens if nobody answers my reposición?
Art. 124.2 of Law 39/2015 gives the authority one month to issue and notify its decision. If that month passes with no answer, art. 46.4 LJCA counts the two months for the court claim from the day after the reposición must be deemed refused. Silence therefore opens the courtroom door rather than closing it.
Can I apply for a different type of arraigo from the one refused?
Yes. Art. 125.1 of Royal Decree 1155/2024 sets out five types, resting on economic, social, family, work or educational ties, and each has its own requirements in arts. 126 and 127. One door closing does not close the others, and the strategy often consists of challenging the refusal while preparing the correct type in parallel.
This guide explains how the action works in general. It does not replace the study of your own case: deadlines depend on when things happened and on what you have done since.