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⏳ UGE refusal · recurso de alzadaAppeal deadlines after a UGE refusal
A refusal of a Law 14/2013 residency permit — the Digital Nomad residency permit, the Startup residency permit (the startup visa), the EU Blue Card or a family member’s permit — can be appealed with a recurso de alzada within 1 month of the day it was served on you. Until that month has passed, the refusal is not final. Only a decision on the alzada opens the 2 months to go to court. Enter the notification date and the calculator shows the last day.
Appeal periods at a glance
- Appeal against a refusal
- Recurso de alzada: 1 month Counted from the day after service
- The last day
- The same date 1 month later Or the next working day in Madrid
- Decision on the alzada
- Within 3 months by law No answer counts as a dismissal
- Going to court
- 2 months after the alzada decision August does not count
Calculate your last day
The periods are the same for every permit the UGE handles, so the calculator needs only the kind of decision and the day it was served on you.
Both options are decisions that were served on you, because the period runs from that day. If nothing was ever decided, there is no date to count from. An application that was never answered may count as granted by positive silence (not for the Startup residency permit, where the ENISA report stops the clock). An alzada that was never answered is covered in the questions below.
Application never answered? Prepare the positive silence request
The date stays in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
General information about statutory periods. Not legal advice, and not a reading of your decision.
Your last day
Enter the date of service to see the last day.
- Recurso de alzada
- Recurso contencioso-administrativo
What happens after a refusal, step by step
After a UGE refusal the appeals are not alternatives: each one follows the other. Most people only ever need the first.
Recurso de alzada: 1 month
The appeal against the refusal itself. The UGE (Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos, UGE-CE) processes the application, and the decision is signed by the Dirección General de Migraciones. The alzada is decided by the body above it; you can file it either with that body or with the one that issued the refusal. A filed alzada keeps the case open. If the month passes without one, the refusal becomes final.
The answer to the alzada: up to 3 months
By law the administration has 3 months to decide the alzada and serve the decision. If it does not, you may treat the appeal as dismissed and go to court. Here silence works against you — the opposite of the original application, where by law no decision in time counts as a grant (except for the Startup residency permit, where the ENISA report stops the clock).
Court: 2 months after the decision on the alzada
The next step is a recurso contencioso-administrativo, a claim in court filed by a lawyer. The 2 months run from the day after the decision on the alzada is served, and August does not count. If the alzada was never answered, the Constitutional Court has held that the administration cannot gain from its own silence, so the 6 months the law mentions for that case do not shut the door. Filing early is still the safer course.
A new application is not an appeal
Applying again opens a separate case. It does not challenge the refusal and does not pause the 1-month period. You can do both at the same time; one does not replace the other.
Recurso extraordinario de revisión: rare cases
Only against a decision that is already final, and only in 4 situations: a factual error visible from the documents in the file; essential documents that come to light later; documents or testimony a court has declared false; or a decision obtained through a crime a court has established. The period is 4 years from service for the first situation and 3 months from learning of the documents or the judgment for the others.
How the month is counted
The calculator applies these rules. The first one is where most mistakes happen: the date that counts is the day of service.
The day of service, not the date on the decision
The decision arrives in your account in the UGE electronic office, under Ver Notificaciones. It counts as served the day you open it, or after 10 calendar days if you never open it. The notice e-mail often does not arrive, so open Ver Notificaciones yourself while a case is pending. More on notifications is on the UGE page.
It ends on the same date a month later
The count starts the day after service. Served on 15 March, the month ends on 15 April. If the month of expiry has no such day, the period ends on its last day: served on 31 January, it ends on 28 February (29 February in a leap year).
Weekends and Madrid holidays move it forward
If the last day is a Saturday, a Sunday or a holiday, the period runs to the next working day. The UGE sits in Madrid, so the calculator uses the calendar of the city of Madrid: national, Comunidad de Madrid and city holidays. A holiday where you live counts too, but it can only push the date later, so counting on Madrid’s calendar never makes you late. The 2026 dates are listed on the requerimiento page.
The court period skips August
The 2 months to go to court do not run in August. The calculator flags a court period that touches August instead of guessing the new date, and it does not move the court date for holidays: the lawyer who files the claim counts it on the court’s calendar.
Questions after a refusal
Not for 1 month. Until the month to file a recurso de alzada has passed, the refusal can be challenged. Once it passes with no appeal, the refusal is final.
The law does not require one: the alzada is an administrative appeal, and you can file it yourself or through a representative. The court stage after it does need a lawyer.
Yes. A decision that treats the application as withdrawn can be appealed with a recurso de alzada within 1 month, like a refusal. How the 10 working days for a requerimiento are counted and what the UGE usually asks for: responding to a UGE requerimiento.
After 3 months without an answer you can treat the alzada as dismissed and go to court. The law mentions 6 months for that case, but the Constitutional Court held in 2014 that silence does not start a time limit against you. It is still safer to file soon after the 3 months end.
It depends on the reason for the refusal. If a document was missing or in the wrong form, a new complete application may be the simpler path. If you believe documents already in the file were misread, the alzada is where you say so. You can also do both at once.
Show us the refusal
We read the decision with you, work out the last day and set out the options: an alzada, a new application or both. If the next step is court, we say so plainly: that needs a lawyer, and we are a consultancy that does not litigate. Nobody can promise the outcome.
Legal basis and official sources
- The recurso de alzada against decisions on Law 14/2013 residency permits, processed by the UGE and decided by the Dirección General de Migraciones: article 76.1 of Law 14/2013.
- Where the alzada is filed: article 121 of Law 39/2015; 1 month to file against an express decision, 3 months to decide it, and no further administrative appeal: article 122.
- Counting periods in months, the move to the next working day and holidays at the seat of the body: article 30 of Law 39/2015; electronic notifications and the 10 calendar days: article 43.
- Going to court: 2 months from the day after the decision that ends the administrative stage, article 46.1 of Law 29/1998; August does not count, article 128.2; the missing-day rule for months, article 133.3 of Law 1/2000.
- Silence does not start a time limit to go to court: Constitutional Court judgment 52/2014.
- Recurso extraordinario de revisión: article 125 of Law 39/2015.
- Article 76 of Law 14/2013 — procedure and the recurso de alzada (BOE)
- Article 121 of Law 39/2015 — the recurso de alzada (BOE)
- Article 122 of Law 39/2015 — periods for the alzada (BOE)
- Article 30 of Law 39/2015 — how periods are counted (BOE)
- Article 43 of Law 39/2015 — electronic notifications (BOE)
- Article 125 of Law 39/2015 — recurso extraordinario de revisión (BOE)
- Article 46 of Law 29/1998 — the period to go to court (BOE)
- Article 128 of Law 29/1998 — August (BOE)
- Article 133 of Law 1/2000 — periods in months (BOE)
- Constitutional Court judgment 52/2014 — silence and the 6-month period (BOE)
- Ayuntamiento de Madrid — 2026 holidays in the city of Madrid
General information about statutory periods, checked in September 2026. It is not legal advice and not a reading of your decision. We are a relocation consultancy, not a law firm.