How do I appeal a refused Spanish Schengen visa, and what is the deadline?

Checked on 2026-10-25

You have a right to appeal under Spanish law. A visa refusal ends the administrative route, so you can either file an optional appeal for reconsideration (recurso de reposición) with the consulate within one month, which must be decided within one month, or go straight to the administrative courts within two months of notification.

Key facts

What	The law says	Source
Right to appeal	Yes, against the state that refused, under its national law	Visa Code, art. 32(3)
How you’re told	Standard form with reasons, in the deciding state’s language and another official EU language	Visa Code, art. 32(2) as amended by Reg. 2019/1155
Status of the refusal	It ends the administrative route (pone fin a la vía administrativa)	RD 1155/2024, disp. adic. novena
Option 1	Recurso de reposición to the same body, optional, within 1 month	Ley 39/2015, arts. 123(1), 124(1)
Decision on reposición	Within 1 month	Ley 39/2015, art. 124(2)
Option 2	Court appeal (recurso contencioso-administrativo) within 2 months of notification	Ley 29/1998, art. 46(1)
Order	If you file reposición, you can’t go to court until it’s decided or presumed rejected	Ley 39/2015, art. 123(2)

Your right to appeal

The Visa Code says anyone refused a visa has the right to appeal. The appeal is brought against the member state that took the final decision and follows that state’s national law. The refusal and its reasons must be notified using the standard form, in the language of the deciding state and in another official language of the EU institutions.

The two routes under Spanish law

Spain’s immigration regulation says decisions granting or refusing visas end the administrative route. Under Ley 39/2015, a decision like that can be challenged in one of two ways:

Recurso de reposición (appeal for reconsideration). It is optional and goes to the same body that decided, here the consulate. You have one month to file it against an express decision. The authority has one month to decide and notify. You can’t go to court until it has been decided or is presumed rejected.
Recurso contencioso-administrativo (court appeal). You can go straight to the administrative courts. The deadline is two months from the day after notification of the decision (Ley 29/1998, art. 46(1)). If you filed a reposición first, the two months run from notification of its decision or from when it counts as presumed rejected (art. 46(4)).

What a consulate asks for

The Spanish Consulate General in London’s guidance, which is one consulate’s own practice, says the appeal for reconsideration must be in Spanish and include:

the appellant’s name, surnames and identification;
the decision appealed;
the grounds;
place, date, signature and contact details;
the body it is addressed to.

It says each appeal must cover a single file, that it can be filed by the applicant or a legal representative (with proof of representation), and that appeals sent by email are not valid. Check the instructions of the consulate that refused your visa.

Grounds for refusal include not justifying the purpose of the trip, insufficient means, missing travel medical insurance, an SIS alert, and reasonable doubts about your intention to leave (Visa Code, art. 32(1)).

Sources

Change history

2026-10-25: Page created

This is general information, not legal advice, and Lumen is not a law firm. Rules change and offices differ: check the official sources above before you act. Found something wrong or out of date? Write to support@lumen.observer.