Spain digital nomad visa denied: appeal and alternatives

The case, in five lines

What is brought

A recurso de alzada (administrative appeal to a higher authority) against the UGE's refusal; an optional recurso de reposición (appeal for reconsideration) or a recurso contencioso-administrativo (judicial review) against the consular refusal; submissions at the hearing before termination and an appeal against it. And, where the defect is better cured than argued, a fresh and complete application.

Before which court

The alzada is addressed to the Secretaría de Estado de Migraciones (the State Secretariat for Migration), the hierarchical superior of the directorate-general that decided (today the Dirección General de Gestión Migratoria), or lodged with the latter, which forwards it. The reposición is lodged with the consulate itself. Judicial review goes to the Sala de lo Contencioso-Administrativo del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid (the administrative chamber of the Madrid High Court of Justice), unless the statement of appeal rights in the decision names another court.

Deadline

Alzada: one month from the day after notification; once it lapses, the refusal is final (art. 122.1 of Law 39/2015). Reposición: one month (art. 124.1). Judicial review: two months from notification of the act exhausting administrative remedies or of the express decision on the appeal, and six if the appeal is dismissed by silence (art. 46.1 of the LJCA, the Administrative Jurisdiction Act). Request for documents: ten days, extendable by five (art. 68). Termination hearing: ten to fifteen days (art. 82.2). A fresh application stops none of them.

Who can bring it

The foreign applicant or holder, who for remote work is the worker personally, not the employer; each family member, in respect of their own decision. Before the UGE we act under your mandate, without asking for your digital certificate; at the consulate you file, or your representative accredited there if that consulate allows it, with the written submission we prepare.

Financial risk

Appealing does not keep you lawfully present, and the interim relief that would let you reside or work while the case is decided is rarely granted. Litigation takes months, compared with twenty days for a fresh application, and if the claim is dismissed you may be ordered to pay costs. If your legal stay runs out, you can no longer reapply from within Spain.

Three different decisions, and an appeal for each

The first step is to establish who said no, because each authority has its own remedy. The authorisation applied for from within Spain is examined by the Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos (UGE, the Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit) and granted or refused by the Dirección General de Migraciones (the Directorate-General for Migration) under art. 76.1 of Law 14/2013, whose functions have since passed to the Dirección General de Gestión Migratoria (the Directorate-General for Migration Management) under Royal Decree 501/2024; the visa applied for from abroad is decided by the consulate (art. 75); and termination, by the competent authority after hearing you (seventh additional provision).

Against the UGE's refusal, the law provides for the recurso de alzada (administrative appeal to a higher authority) in art. 76.1: it is lodged within one month with the Secretaría de Estado de Migraciones (the State Secretariat for Migration) or with the Directorate-General itself, which forwards it within ten days (arts. 121 and 122 of Law 39/2015). If there is no answer within three months, you may treat it as dismissed; against that deemed dismissal you have six months to seek judicial review, or two from notification of an express dismissal (art. 46.1 LJCA), before the Sala de lo Contencioso-Administrativo del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid (the administrative chamber of the Madrid High Court of Justice). Each family member appeals their own decision.

Against the visa refusal, consulates indicate an optional recurso de reposición (appeal for reconsideration), lodged with the consulate itself within one month, or judicial review before that same chamber within two months (arts. 123 and 124 of Law 39/2015 and art. 46 LJCA). The decision must state which appeal lies, before whom and within what time (art. 27.6 of Organic Law 4/2000 and art. 28.7 of Royal Decree 1155/2024): that statement of appeal rights (pie de recurso) is the first thing to read, and day one is the day after notification.

Before the refusal: the request for documents and the twenty days

If the UGE asks you for documents, you have ten days to provide them, with the warning that you will be deemed to have withdrawn (art. 68.1 of Law 39/2015), extendable by up to five at your request if providing them presents special difficulties, such as a document coming from abroad (art. 68.2). The request usually signals the ground for a future refusal: answer it in full and in one go. If the period has passed, art. 73.3 admits a step taken up to the very day the decision treating the period as lapsed is notified.

The UGE has twenty days from electronic filing to decide; if it does not, the authorisation is deemed granted (art. 76.1). They are working days, under the general rule of Law 39/2015, and they run from filing, not from when the file is complete. That deemed approval ends the procedure (art. 24.2), and a later decision may only confirm it (art. 24.3.a): faced with a refusal, recount the days with the file in front of you.

If the count comes out in your favour, that is the first ground of appeal. Deemed approval is proven with the certificate under art. 24.4, which the authority must issue of its own motion within fifteen days of the deadline expiring and which you may request at any time, including through the Ministry's electronic portal. Even so, the authority may dispute that you met the requirements: proof that you did remains the foundation of the case.

Appeal or reapply: the clock on your stay decides

Filing the application extended your stay until the decision (art. 76.1). The refusal is that decision, and appealing it does not restore your lawful status: if your original stay had already expired, you are left without a right to remain in Spain, and someone unlawfully present here cannot apply again from within Spain (art. 62.3.a). Before arguing the merits, count the days of legal stay you have left.

Some defects are cured sooner by a fresh application than by an appeal: the missing criminal record certificate, Social Security not sorted out, the insurance or an incomplete employer's letter. With legal stay left, the fresh application extends it again and is decided within twenty days, for a 790-038 fee of 73.26 euros in 2026. Other defects only the calendar can cure: a company short of a year of activity or a relationship of under three months is waited out, not appealed.

The appeal is for the authority's mistakes: demanding the year of activity from a new subsidiary when the law refers it to the company or the group (art. 74 ter.a), counting the 20 % by clients rather than against total professional activity (art. 74 bis.1), ignoring a document in the file, giving boilerplate reasons (art. 35.1.a of Law 39/2015) or refusing out of time. What hardly anyone tells you: litigation is measured in months; a well-made fresh application, in twenty days. It often pays to do both.

The grounds for refusal that can be argued and those that cannot

As an employee, the digital nomad may only work for companies based outside Spain; as self-employed, also for companies in Spain if that work does not exceed 20 % of total professional activity (art. 74 bis.1). If your employer is in Spain, an appeal has nowhere to go: a different authorisation is the right one. The 20 % is defended with invoices and tax returns for a representative period, because the law does not say over what period it is measured.

The company or group must prove a year of real and continuous activity, and the relationship three months: employment, with a document from the company allowing remote work, or commercial, with one or more companies outside Spain (art. 74 ter). If the company is yours, the law says nothing specific about partners or directors: it requires real activity, proven with turnover, clients and accounts. If the refusal invokes public order, it must rest on a report from the police, the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (the National Intelligence Centre) or the Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (the National Security Department), under art. 62.7.

Also decisive are the degree or three years of experience (art. 74 bis.2), criminal record certificates from the countries of residence in the last two years, with the five-year statement (art. 62.3.c), the insurance and the financial means: for 2026, the consulates publish 2,442 euros a month for the main applicant, plus 916 euros for the first family member and 306 euros for each additional one. And Social Security: according to the UGE's FAQs, an employee contributes to the Régimen General (the general scheme) with the employer registered with the Tesorería (the Social Security General Treasury), unless covered by an agreement with a certificate of coverage, and a self-employed person to the RETA (the self-employed scheme).

The consular refusal: reasons, interview and the Madrid chamber

The consulate decides within ten working days, unless there is prior consultation under the Visa Code (art. 75.5 of Law 14/2013). It refuses if the requirements are not proven, if there are false documents or inaccurate statements, or if identity, the validity of the documents or the truth of the stated reasons are not proven beyond doubt (art. 28.5 of Royal Decree 1155/2024). Organic Law 4/2000 only expressly requires reasons for some refusals (art. 27.6); the Regulation requires all of them to be reasoned, with the facts and documents behind them (art. 28.6).

If there was an interview, a signed record had to be drawn up, with a copy for you (art. 27.3 of Royal Decree 1155/2024): where the ground is credibility, it is the key evidence. If a document was missing, a well-prepared fresh application is usually decided sooner than the reposición; if what you provided was misread, reposición or direct judicial review, but not both at once, because while the reposición is pending you cannot go to court (art. 123.2 of Law 39/2015). At the consulate you file, or your representative accredited there if it allows it; we prepare the written submission and the evidence.

Judicial review of the consular refusal goes to the Sala de lo Contencioso-Administrativo del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid (the administrative chamber of the Madrid High Court of Justice), without first attempting an appropriate dispute resolution method: that requirement under Organic Law 1/2025 applies to civil proceedings. And a route few consider: if your nationality does not need a visa for short stays, while lawfully in Spain you may apply to the UGE for the authorisation (art. 74 quinquies.1), with the ground already cured.

Termination: the hearing is where the authorisation is defended

A holder of the visa or authorisation must continue to meet the conditions on which it was granted and report to the UGE within thirty days any change affecting them, such as changing employer (seventh additional provision). The provision does not say whether these are working or calendar days, and the general rule of Law 39/2015 would make them working days, but the safe course is to count them as calendar days. In the cases we handle, the UGE treats a change of employer as an initial application, with the new company's full documentation but without requiring the three-month relationship.

Termination (extinción) is not automatic: it is only possible where it is verified that the statutory conditions are not met, by a reasoned decision and after a hearing. That hearing gives you between ten and fifteen days to make submissions and provide documents (art. 82.2 of Law 39/2015), and it is the decisive moment: the answer is not an apology for the delay but proof that the conditions are met today.

If they terminate it nonetheless, the appeal follows the route in the statement of appeal rights, and appealing does not by itself suspend its effects: suspension must be requested expressly, with the harm proven. In court, interim relief is only available where without it the claim would lose its legitimate purpose (arts. 129 and 130 LJCA). Against an initial refusal it is harder still: there is nothing to suspend, and what would be sought is to reside or work while the case is decided, which is rarely granted.

How we run the case, step by step

1. 1

   Identify the act and fix day one

   Request for documents, UGE refusal, consular refusal or termination hearing: each has its own deadline, and all start the day after notification.

2. 2

   Recount the twenty-day silence period

   With the filing, the requests and the notification, we check whether the authorisation was deemed granted; if so, we request the certificate under art. 24.4 of Law 39/2015 and make it the first ground.

3. 3

   Read the ground with the file in front of you

   We request a copy of the file and, if there was a consular interview, its record, to distinguish the defect that a fresh application cures from the authority's error that is appealed.

4. 4

   Choose the route against the clock on your stay

   With legal stay left and a curable defect, a fresh and complete application; otherwise, alzada within one month against the UGE or reposición within one month against the consulate. Where it helps, both at once.

5. 5

   Written submission with the missing evidence

   The appeal, or the hearing submissions, attacks the ground with the document that dismantles it: the group's commercial registry certificate, the employer's letter, invoices for the 20 %, criminal record certificates or Social Security. Before the UGE we file it, under your mandate.

6. 6

   Judicial review in Madrid, and interim relief only with proven harm

   Once the appeal is expressly dismissed, or directly against the consulate, two months (six if the alzada is dismissed by silence) to seek judicial review before the Sala de lo Contencioso-Administrativo del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid (art. 46 LJCA), with interim relief only if without it the claim would lose its purpose (art. 130).

The law that applies

• Art. 76 de la Ley 14/2013. The UGE examines and the Dirección General de Migraciones grants within twenty days of electronic filing, with deemed approval; decisions are reasoned and open to alzada, and the application extends the stay or residence until the decision. BOE-A-2013-10074
• Arts. 74 bis y 74 ter de la Ley 14/2013. Remote work by exclusively electronic means for companies outside Spain, and if self-employed up to 20 % with companies in Spain; a degree or three years' experience, a company or group with a year of real and continuous activity, and a three-month relationship. BOE-A-2013-10074
• Art. 62 de la Ley 14/2013. General requirements, among them not being unlawfully present in Spain, criminal record certificates from the countries of residence for two years plus a five-year statement, health insurance and sufficient resources; and refusal on public order grounds based on a report from the police, the CNI or the National Security Department. BOE-A-2013-10074
• Disposición adicional séptima de la Ley 14/2013. It requires the conditions to be kept throughout validity and any change to be reported to the UGE within thirty days; if they are not met, the visa or authorisation may be terminated by a reasoned decision and after a hearing. BOE-A-2013-10074
• Art. 24 de la Ley 39/2015. Deemed approval ends the procedure, a later express decision may only confirm it, and it may be proven by any means, including the certificate the authority issues of its own motion within fifteen days or on request. BOE-A-2015-10565
• Arts. 121 a 124 de la Ley 39/2015. Alzada, lodged within one month with the superior authority or with the one that issued the act, which forwards it within ten days, with three months to decide and silence meaning dismissal; optional reposición, lodged within one month with the same authority, which bars going to court until it is decided. BOE-A-2015-10565
• Art. 46 LJCA. Two months for judicial review from the day after notification of the express act exhausting administrative remedies, and six against deemed acts; after a reposición, time runs from its express decision or its deemed dismissal. BOE-A-1998-16718
• Art. 28 del RD 1155/2024. It assigns visas to the consular offices, lists the grounds for refusal and requires the refusal to be reasoned and notified with the available appeal, the body and the time limit. BOE-A-2024-24099

Each article checked against the consolidated text published in the BOE (the Spanish official gazette).

Frequently asked questions