Administrative silence in Spanish residence procedures

~7 min read · Published 30 September 2026 Updated and checked against official sources 30 September 2026 Print / PDF

Silencio administrativo (administrative silence) decides what an office's failure to answer within the legal deadline means: the application counts as granted or as refused. At Extranjería first applications are refused by silence, while renewals and long-term residence are granted after three months. UGE grants Law 14/2013 permits by silence after 20 working days. Below are the deadline and the type of silence for each procedure, with the rule behind it.

Contents

• Deadline and type of silence
• Table by procedure
• A request for documents stops the clock
• Approval by silence
• Refusal by silence and appeals

Deadline and type of silence

Every procedure has two values: the deadline by which the office must notify its decision, and the type of silence, meaning what the absence of notification means once that deadline has passed.

Deadline. The rule governing the procedure sets it. Where there is no such rule, the deadline is three months from the day after the application is registered with the office handling it (DA 7ª RD 1155/2024, art. 21.3 Ley 39/2015). Deadlines in days are counted in working days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays (art. 30.2 Ley 39/2015). Deadlines in months end on the same day of the month on which they began (art. 30.4 Ley 39/2015).

Type of silence. Spanish general administrative law starts from approval: under art. 24.1 Ley 39/2015 an application left unanswered within the deadline counts as granted, unless a law provides otherwise. For foreign nationals the law provides otherwise. Under DA 1ª LO 4/2000 permit applications count as refused once the deadline has passed, and DA 8ª RD 1155/2024 repeats the rule.

The law itself makes two exceptions. Renewals of residence permits and work permits and long-term residence are granted by silence after three months (DA 1ª.2). Lifting the restriction to one province or sector during the first year of a permit is granted after one month (DA 1ª.3). Law 14/2013 permits follow their own rule. They are handled by UGE-CE (Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos, a unit of the Ministry of Inclusion and Migration), the deadline is 20 working days and silence means approval (art. 76.1 Ley 14/2013).

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Table by procedure

The deadline runs from registration of the application unless the row says otherwise. All rules checked against the consolidated texts in the BOE on September 30, 2026.

The same non-lucrative permit gives one month and refusal on first application and three months and approval on renewal. The first permit follows art. 63 and the general rule in DA 1ª.1, the renewal follows art. 64 and the exception in DA 1ª.2. For a first non-lucrative or self-employment permit the deadline runs not from filing at the consulate but from the day Extranjería receives the consulate’s communication.

The 10-working-day deadline for a Law 14/2013 visa applies unless the applicant is subject to consultation under art. 22 of the EU Visa Code. In that case the Visa Code deadline applies.

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A request for documents stops the clock

A requerimiento (a request to provide documents or correct the application) stops the decision deadline. The clock stands still from notification of the request until the documents are filed, and if they are not filed, for the whole period given (art. 22.1 Ley 39/2015, point a). The silence date moves by the same number of days.

The law gives 10 days to correct an application. Without a reply the application is treated as withdrawn, desistimiento (the applicant’s abandonment of the application), and the office issues a decision recording it (art. 68.1 Ley 39/2015). A refusal on the merits and desistimiento are different acts: after desistimiento the application is filed again from scratch.

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Approval by silence

Approval by silence has the status of a decision closing the procedure (art. 24.2 Ley 39/2015). It takes effect on the day the deadline expires. After that date the office can only issue a decision confirming it (art. 24.3 Ley 39/2015, point a).

A non-lucrative renewal is filed on March 10 and no documents are requested. On June 10 the deadline expires without notification: the renewal is granted, and a refusal issued after June 10 breaches that rule.

Proof. Any evidence, including a certificado acreditativo del silencio (certificate of silence). The office that should have decided issues it of its own motion within 15 days after the deadline. If no certificate arrives, you request one, and the 15 days run from the day the request is registered (art. 24.4 Ley 39/2015). Information Sheet 7 (a guidance sheet of the Ministry of Inclusion and Migration) on non-lucrative renewal names this certificate expressly. Notification of the renewal starts the one-month period for applying for the new TIE (foreigner identity card).

The limit. Silence does not confer a right for which an essential requirement was missing. Such an act is void (art. 47.1 Ley 39/2015, point f), and the office sets it aside through review under art. 106 Ley 39/2015 with an opinion of the Consejo de Estado (Council of State). That is a separate procedure with its own safeguards, not a refusal letter.

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Refusal by silence and appeals

A refusal by silence has one consequence: it opens the way to an appeal (art. 24.2 Ley 39/2015). The office still has to decide and may later decide either way, as silence does not bind it (art. 24.3 Ley 39/2015, point b).

Extranjería. Decisions of the Delegación and Subdelegación del Gobierno on permits exhaust the administrative route (DA 9ª RD 1155/2024). Against them you may file a recurso de reposición (an optional appeal to the same office) or go straight to court (art. 123 Ley 39/2015). Against a refusal by silence reposición can be filed at any time from the day after the deadline, against an express refusal within one month (art. 124.1 Ley 39/2015). The office has one month to decide the reposición (art. 124.2 Ley 39/2015).

UGE-CE. Decisions under Law 14/2013 are appealed by recurso de alzada (an appeal to the higher authority) under art. 76.1 Ley 14/2013 and art. 122 Ley 39/2015: within one month against an express refusal, and the authority has three months to decide.

Double silence. An alzada filed against a refusal by silence and itself left unanswered counts as upheld (art. 24.1 Ley 39/2015, third paragraph). In foreign nationals’ permits the rule rarely applies. At Extranjería the appeal route is reposición, and at UGE-CE the first silence already means approval.

We handle reposición and alzada ourselves, and no lawyer is needed for them. A court claim (recurso contencioso-administrativo) requires an abogado and a procurador: we prepare the case, and a partner Spanish lawyer represents the client in court.

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Author Aleksandr Nazarov