Refused entry at a Spanish airport: what can be done
Last updated 2026-09-28 · Reviewed by Jaime Piñeira Pardo, registered with the ICAM bar, no. 138826
The short answer
A refusal of entry is challenged by a recurso de alzada (an appeal to the higher authority) before the Dirección General de la Policía (the national police headquarters), within one month of notification, and then before the sección de lo contencioso-administrativo del Tribunal de Instancia (the administrative-law section of the first-instance court). Appealing does not stop the return, which is carried out within 72 hours: in that window what decides is the lawyer at the border post, the missing documents and, where appropriate, the humanitarian route.
Your sister lands at Barajas on a Saturday morning, with a return ticket for fifteen days later, to meet her nephew. At passport control she is taken to a second interview: why she has come, where she is staying, how much money she is carrying. She has three hundred euros and a card, and the carta de invitación (the invitation letter) you obtained at the police station has stayed at your home, in a drawer. A few hours later she is handed a form with one box ticked («does not justify the purpose and conditions of stay») and told she will go back on the airline's next flight. You are in the arrivals hall, receiving her messages from a room you cannot visit, and you do not know whether anything can still be done before the plane takes off.
The case, in five lines
- What is brought
- A recurso de alzada (an appeal to the higher authority) against the refusal of entry and, afterwards, a contencioso-administrativo court claim. Where the refusal has infringed a fundamental right, the special procedure for the protection of fundamental rights with an urgent interim measure. And, where the holding at the border post goes beyond what the law allows, habeas corpus proceedings.
- Before which court
- The alzada is addressed to the Dirección General de la Policía (the national police headquarters), the superior of the border post, and may be filed at the post itself. The court claim belongs to the sección de lo contencioso-administrativo del Tribunal de Instancia (the administrative-law section of the first-instance court) of the province where the airport is (for Barajas, Madrid). Habeas corpus goes to the sección de instrucción del Tribunal de Instancia (the investigating section of the first-instance court) of the place where the person is being held.
- Deadline
- One month for the alzada, from the day after notification of the refusal (art. 122.1 of Law 39/2015). It is a strict time bar: once it expires, the decision is final for all purposes. Once the alzada is decided, two months for the court claim (art. 46.1 LJCA); if there is no answer within three months, it may be treated as dismissed (art. 122.2). Through the fundamental rights route, ten days from notification (art. 115.1 LJCA). And the physical clock: the return is carried out within 72 hours of being ordered (art. 15.3 of Royal Decree 1155/2024).
- Who can bring it
- The person refused entry, assisted or represented by a lawyer; if they have already left Spain, they may appeal through the consulate (art. 15.2 of Royal Decree 1155/2024). The relative waiting for them is not a party to the appeal, but may bring habeas corpus if they are the spouse or partner, an ascendant, a descendant or a sibling. The respondent is the Administración General del Estado (the Spanish central government).
- Financial risk
- Appealing does not suspend the refusal (art. 14.3 of the Schengen Borders Code): the return goes ahead anyway, and the appeal is won, if it is won, months later. In the court claim, if it is dismissed, an order to pay costs may follow. The heaviest risk is not financial: a contradictory statement at the interview or an unfounded asylum claim stays on the file and in the European entry register, and it is read on the next trip.
Refusing entry is not expelling: what exactly has been done
Article 14.1 of the Schengen Borders Code requires entry to be refused to a third-country national who does not meet all the conditions in article 6.1: a valid travel document, a visa where one is required, documents justifying the purpose and conditions of the stay, sufficient means of subsistence, and not being listed as inadmissible. One failure is enough. The decision is taken by a reasoned decision stating the exact grounds, handed over on a standard form and, under paragraph 2 of the same article, it takes effect immediately.
What it is not: neither an expulsion nor a return order. Article 60.1 of Organic Law 4/2000 requires the person refused entry to go back to their point of origin as soon as possible, but the refusal, on its own, carries no entry ban. A devolución (a summary return) does: article 58.7 of the same law attaches to it a ban of up to three years for someone who tried to enter unlawfully. Your relative may travel again. If what you have been served with is a decision opening expulsion proceedings inside Spain, that is a different case, with its own 48-hour deadline.
But it leaves a trace. Article 15.4 of Royal Decree 1155/2024 requires an entry stamp crossed out in black ink to be placed in the passport, and since the EU Entry/Exit System began operating the refusal is also recorded with its ground, visible to any border guard in the Schengen area for three years. The carrier that brought her must take charge of her immediately and fly her back (art. 18 of the same Royal Decree), and it bears the costs of her stay at the post.
The first hours: a lawyer, the papers and the humanitarian door
Article 26.2 of Organic Law 4/2000 gives the person refused entry the right to a lawyer and an interpreter, starting at the very moment of the check at the border post, and article 22.2 extends it to the whole procedure that may lead to refusal, free of charge for those without means. The law guarantees that assistance in every case, and the family may appoint the firm's lawyer: it is enough for your relative to ask the officers for that lawyer by name. What she must not do is sign statements she does not understand while waiting for someone to arrive.
Those hours serve for more than appealing. If the refusal rests on the absence of a paper that exists, such as the invitation letter left at home, the hotel booking or proof of funds, the lawyer can produce it at the post before the return is carried out and ask for the decision to be reconsidered. It is not a right with a deadline; it is a step that depends on speed and on the document dismantling exactly the ground ticked on the form. That is why the first thing is to read the box, not to gather every family paper.
There are also two doors almost nobody knows about. Article 25.4 of Organic Law 4/2000 and article 6.5.c) of the Borders Code allow entry to be authorised for someone who does not meet the requirements on exceptional humanitarian grounds, such as visiting a seriously ill relative or attending a funeral, and that request is made and documented on the spot. And if your relative is the spouse, registered partner, child or dependent ascendant of a citizen of another EU Member State, article 4 of Royal Decree 240/2007 applies: where the only thing missing is the travel document or the visa, the police must, before sending her back, give her every facility to obtain it or to prove her status by other means.
Seventy-two hours at most, and then a judge
Article 15.3 of Royal Decree 1155/2024 requires the return to be carried out immediately and, in any event, within 72 hours of being ordered, and its paragraph 4 sets the same cap on the stay in the border post facilities, with an express warning: the restriction on freedom of movement serves solely to secure the return, both in duration and in scope. If the return cannot take place within that period, article 60.1 of Organic Law 4/2000 requires the authority that refused entry to apply to the investigating judge, today the sección de instrucción del Tribunal de Instancia (the investigating section of the first-instance court), to decide where the person must stay.
When that limit is exceeded without a court stepping in, or your relative is denied the lawyer or the interpreter, habeas corpus under Organic Law 6/1984 comes into play. Its article 1 treats as unlawfully detained those held for longer than the period the law allows or without their rights being respected, and its article 3 allows it to be sought not only by the person affected but also by their spouse or partner, ascendants, descendants and siblings. It is decided by the investigating section of the Tribunal de Instancia of the place where the person is held, within twenty-four hours of being opened.
The Tribunal Constitucional (the Constitutional Court) has held that any deprivation of liberty, even if it is not a criminal arrest, must be limited in time and fit its purpose, and it has applied that to compulsory stays in airport facilities. Habeas corpus does not decide whether your relative enters Spain; it reviews whether the holding is lawful. That is why the evidence that wins it is a timeline: the time the flight landed, the time of notification, the time of the first message from the room. They should be noted from the very first moment.
Appealing does not stop the plane: the alzada, the claim and the ten-day shortcut
Article 14.3 of the Borders Code recognises the right of appeal and, in the same paragraph, warns that lodging the appeal has no suspensive effect. Article 15.2 of Royal Decree 1155/2024 repeats this and adds that the refusal does not exhaust the administrative route, so the appeal that lies is the alzada under article 121 of Law 39/2015, before the authority above the one that decided, which in practice is the Dirección General de la Policía. The deadline is one month from notification, and if your relative is already abroad, the same article 15.2 allows it to be filed through the consulate.
Once the alzada is decided, there are two months for the contencioso-administrativo claim (art. 46.1 LJCA), and if the Dirección General does not answer within three months, article 122.2 of Law 39/2015 allows it to be treated as dismissed. The claim belongs to the sección de lo contencioso-administrativo del Tribunal de Instancia (the administrative-law section of the first-instance court) for the area where the border post is located, because an alzada that confirms the post's decision does not change the competent court (arts. 8.3, 8.4 and 14.1 LJCA); for Barajas, Madrid. It follows the abbreviated procedure (art. 78.1 LJCA). And there is no prior requirement to attempt an out-of-court dispute resolution method: the one in article 5 of Organic Law 1/2025 applies to civil proceedings, not to these.
There is a shortcut, reserved for cases where the refusal has infringed a fundamental right belonging to your relative, such as her right of defence or her liberty: the special procedure in articles 114 onwards of the LJCA, brought within ten days of notification without waiting for the alzada, and with it the urgent interim measure in article 135, which the judge may decide within two days without hearing the authorities. It does not serve to argue whether her funds were sufficient: the right to enter Spain recognised in article 19 of the Constitution belongs to Spanish nationals, and mere disagreement over the requirements is not an infringement of a fundamental right.
What decides the case: the box, the interview and article 6
Article 14.2 of the Borders Code requires the decision to state the exact grounds for refusal. In practice, the standard form ticks a box and the file is completed with the record of the second-line interview. The courts accept that the reasoning may be supplemented by that file, so what is attacked is not the box itself, but the fact that the recorded facts do not support it: a lack-of-funds box against a card with a sufficient balance, or an unjustified-purpose box against an invitation letter nobody asked to see.
Each condition in article 6.1 has its trap. The passport must remain valid for at least three months after the intended date of departure and must have been issued within the previous ten years. The stay may not exceed ninety days in any period of one hundred and eighty, and earlier trips count. Funds are measured, under the 2007 ministerial order on the matter, at 10% of the salario mínimo interprofesional (the statutory minimum wage) per day and per person, with a floor of 90% of that wage: with the 2026 minimum wage, 122.10 euros a day and a minimum of 1,098.90 euros. Article 6.4 of the Code allows the invitation letter to count as proof of means where the traveller stays with the host, but it is better not to rely on it and to carry both.
The interview is the piece of evidence that loses the most cases. Someone who says at the second line that they have come to look for work, that they do not know where they will sleep or that they will stay as long as it takes changes the purpose of their own stay, and no later document undoes it. That is why the appeal strategy is built by reading the record first, and the strategy for the next trip is built on it: the same grounds, covered with papers, and an account consistent with what is already on file.
Claiming asylum at the border since June 2026: another door, not a shortcut
Article 25.3 of Organic Law 4/2000 exempts from the entry requirements anyone who seeks international protection on arrival, and article 14.1 of the Borders Code preserves the right of asylum. Law 12/2009 governed border claims with very short deadlines: four days for the Ministry of the Interior to declare the claim inadmissible or refuse it, two days to request a re-examination, which suspends its effects, and the rule that, if those deadlines passed without an answer, the person entered Spain while the case was examined.
That last rule no longer works that way. Since 12 June 2026 Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum applies, and the Instruction of 11 June 2026 of the Undersecretariat of the Ministry of the Interior provides that a claim lodged at the border post follows the border procedure, lasting at most twelve weeks including the court appeal. The four days of Law 12/2009 remain the target for the first decision, but missing them no longer means entry is authorised. The appeal has a deadline counted in days, not months, stated at the foot of the decision, and the request for re-examination is only possible within the first two days.
That is why asylum is only claimed where there is a real fear of persecution or serious harm. Used to buy time, it is refused for incoherent or insufficient statements, it may keep the person for weeks in the border post facilities, and it puts in writing an account that contradicts the tourist trip on which they arrived. Where the fear is real, by contrast, the claim is prepared with the same care as a court claim, because, if it is appealed with a request for suspension, article 29.2 of Law 12/2009 treats that request as one of special urgency under article 135 LJCA.
How we run the case, step by step
- 1
Fix the time and read the box
We note the landing time and the time of notification, and obtain a copy of the decision. The 72 hours and the month for the alzada depend on the time; which document must be taken to the post depends on the box ticked.
- 2
A lawyer at the border post
Your relative asks the officers for the lawyer appointed by the family, under article 26.2 of Organic Law 4/2000. The lawyer interviews her, reviews the record and produces at the post the document that dismantles the ground, or the humanitarian request under article 25.4.
- 3
Watch the 72-hour limit
If the return is delayed beyond 72 hours without a court decision, or she is denied the lawyer or the interpreter, habeas corpus is filed before the investigating section of the Tribunal de Instancia for the airport's location, which decides within twenty-four hours.
- 4
Decide whether a fundamental right was infringed
If the refusal breached your relative's right of defence or her liberty, the special procedure for the protection of fundamental rights is brought within ten days of notification, with a request for the urgent interim measure in article 135 LJCA.
- 5
The alzada within the month
With a copy of the file, the alzada is filed before the Dirección General de la Policía, attacking the specific ground and producing the evidence that was missing. If your relative has already left, it is filed through the consulate, as article 15.2 of Royal Decree 1155/2024 allows.
- 6
Court claim and clearing the record
Once the alzada is dismissed, the claim is brought within two months before the administrative-law section of the Tribunal de Instancia. If the refusal is annulled, correction of the stamp and the entries is sought and, where there was proven loss, compensation.
The evidence that decides the case
- The decision on the standard form, with the box ticked, the time of notification and the appeal information: it fixes the deadlines and defines the single ground that has to be dismantled.
- The record of the second-line interview, requested with the file: it holds the answers the police relied on and the contradictions attributed to her.
- The original invitation letter the host obtained at the police station, with the host's municipal registration and identity documents, which prove the accommodation and, under article 6.4 of the Borders Code, may also prove means.
- The traveller's bank statements and cards, with a balance sufficient at 10% of the minimum wage per day of stay, and the cash declared at the check.
- The fixed-date return ticket, the booking, the medical insurance and the passport with stamps from earlier trips, showing the document's validity and compliance with the ninety-days-in-one-hundred-and-eighty rule.
- The timeline of the holding: boarding pass, landing time and messages sent from the room. It is the evidence for habeas corpus if the 72 hours are exceeded.
What closes the door
- Signing statements at the interview without an interpreter or a lawyer. What is signed goes into the record, and the record is the evidence on which the appeal is judged.
- Saying at the second line that one has come to look for work or to stay. It changes the purpose of the stay and no later document corrects it.
- Claiming asylum without a real fear in order to buy time. Since June 2026 the passing of days no longer opens the way in, and the account stays on the file.
- Letting the month for the alzada pass because your relative is already home. The refusal becomes final and its record stays visible for three years.
- Going to the ordinary court claim without a prior alzada. The refusal does not exhaust the administrative route and the claim is declared inadmissible; only the fundamental rights route allows it to be skipped, and within ten days.
- Flying again a few days later with the same papers. The next border guard sees the earlier refusal and its ground, and a second refusal is harder to reverse.
The law that applies
- Art. 6 del Reglamento (UE) 2016/399. It sets the entry conditions for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period: a travel document valid for at least three months after the intended departure and issued within the previous ten years, a visa where required, documents on the purpose and conditions of the stay, sufficient means of subsistence, not being listed as inadmissible in the SIS and not being a threat. It allows entry on humanitarian grounds even where a condition is missing. 32016R0399
- Art. 14 del Reglamento (UE) 2016/399. It requires entry to be refused to anyone who does not meet all the conditions in article 6.1, without prejudice to the right of asylum, by a reasoned decision stating the exact grounds, handed over on a standard form and with immediate effect. It recognises the right of appeal under national law, without suspensive effect, and the right to have the cancelled stamp corrected if the appeal finds the refusal unfounded. 32016R0399
- Arts. 22 y 26 de la LO 4/2000. They recognise the right to a lawyer and an interpreter in proceedings that may lead to refusal of entry, free of charge for those without means, from the very moment of the check at the border post, and require the refusal to be made by a reasoned decision stating the available appeals, their deadline and the authority before which they are filed. BOE-A-2000-544
- Arts. 25 y 60 de la LO 4/2000. They require a passport, documents on the purpose and conditions of the stay and means of support, exempt from those requirements anyone claiming asylum on entry, and allow exceptional entry on humanitarian grounds. A refusal requires a return to the point of origin as soon as possible and, if the return is delayed beyond seventy-two hours, the authority must apply to the investigating judge. BOE-A-2000-544
- Art. 15 del RD 1155/2024. It governs the refusal decision: an express ground, information on appeals and the right to a lawyer and an interpreter. It provides that the decision does not exhaust the administrative route, that an appeal does not suspend it, that it may be appealed from abroad through the consulate, that the return is carried out within 72 hours and that the stay in the post's facilities may not exceed that period. BOE-A-2024-24099
- Arts. 121 y 122 de la Ley 39/2015. Acts that do not exhaust the administrative route are appealed by alzada before the authority hierarchically above the one that issued them, within one month where the act is express; after that period the decision is final for all purposes. The authority has three months to decide and notify, after which the appeal may be treated as dismissed. BOE-A-2015-10565
- Arts. 115 y 135 LJCA. The special procedure for the protection of fundamental rights is brought within ten days of notification of the act. Where special urgency is pleaded, the judge may grant or refuse the interim measure within two days without hearing the other side, and in immigration matters involving the return of a minor must first hear the Ministerio Fiscal (the public prosecutor). BOE-A-1998-16718
- Art. 4 del RD 240/2007. For family members of citizens of another EU Member State, it requires the refusal of entry to be reasoned, on failure to prove the requirements or on grounds of public policy, security or health, and, where the only thing missing is the travel document or the visa, requires them to be given every facility before return to obtain it or prove their status by other means. BOE-A-2007-4184
Each article checked against the consolidated text published in the BOE (the Spanish official gazette).
Frequently asked questions
Can I go into the room to see her, or take her the papers myself?
No. The border post facilities are in a restricted area and the family has no access. The documents reach her through the lawyer, who is the one able to interview her and present them to the officers. That is why the invitation letter, your documents as host and the proof of funds should be scanned before the plane lands, with the originals that may need to be shown close at hand.
Is my relative now banned from entering Spain?
No. A refusal of entry, on its own, carries no entry ban, unlike an expulsion or a devolución (a summary return). She may travel again. What does remain is the trace: the crossed-out stamp in the passport and the record of the refusal, with its ground, in the EU Entry/Exit System for three years. The next trip has to arrive with that ground resolved on paper.
She is my wife, and I am a citizen of another EU country living in Spain. Does that change anything?
A great deal. Article 4 of Royal Decree 240/2007 applies, which only allows a refusal reasoned on failure to prove the requirements of that regime or on grounds of public policy, security or health, and which, where the only thing missing is the passport or the visa, requires the police to give her every facility before return to obtain it or prove her status. If you are a Spanish national, your family now falls under the 2024 immigration regulations, and it has to be reviewed against the specific case.
Can she appeal from her home country once she has been sent back?
Yes. Article 15.2 of Royal Decree 1155/2024 allows appeals, both administrative and judicial, to be lodged through the diplomatic or consular mission, which forwards them to the competent authority. The month for the alzada runs all the same from notification at the airport, wherever your relative is, and the most effective course is for the firm to file it directly on her behalf.
Is there any point in appealing if she is already home?
It serves to erase the record. If the appeal finds the refusal unfounded, article 14.3 of the Borders Code entitles her to have the cancelled stamp and the other entries made corrected. The costs of the wasted trip may also be claimed, although article 32.1 of Law 40/2015 warns that annulment does not in itself give a right to compensation: the loss has to be proved.
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.