Residence refusal remedies — which appeal fits my decision?
Read the actual decision and remedy paragraph. Whether it ends the administrative route and whether it is express or presumed determines the next step.
Do I choose freely between alzada and reposición?
No. For an act that does not end the administrative route, Articles 121–122 provide alzada to the superior authority.
For a final administrative act, Article 123 allows optional reposición to the same authority or direct judicial challenge.
Read your act’s remedy paragraph.
Is the administrative appeal always due in one month?
For an express act, alzada and reposición each have a one-month filing period under Articles 122 and 124.
For a presumed act, they can be filed from the day after the relevant silence takes effect, without that blanket one-month cutoff.
Check your actual act and legal service.
An express decision
Alzada: non-final act, superior authority, one month (121–122).
Reposición: final administrative act, same authority, one month (123–124).
Use the route stated for your act; a final act may also permit direct judicial challenge.
A presumed refusal
First verify the specific procedure’s silence rule and start date; not every delay is refusal.
For a presumed act, Articles 122.1 and 124.1 allow the appropriate administrative appeal from the following day; do not invent a universal one-month expiry.
Match the evidence to the reason
Missing proof: identify what the decision says was absent and whether it existed at the relevant time.
Eligibility, funds, insurance, employment or absences: apply the rule for your actual permit and stage. Initial and renewal tests can differ.
Archive is not substantive denial
A withdrawal/archive decision after an unanswered correction request is a different act.
Read its stated grounds and remedy. A new application does not automatically cancel the old decision or suspend its challenge period.
After choosing reposición
Article 123.2 prevents a judicial challenge until the filed reposición is expressly resolved or presumed dismissed.
Article 124.3 does not allow another reposición against its own resolution. Follow the actual next remedy, not repeated identical filings.
What to do
Identify the act and its proper remedy before calculating a deadline.
Bring
- Decision or evidence of the presumed act
- Service/access dates
- Original application and key evidence
- Proof addressing the stated deficiency
- Applicable remedy and filing receipt
Steps
- Save the complete decision and proof of legal service.
- Read the cited ground, authority and remedy paragraph.
- Identify final/non-final administrative route and express/presumed act.
- Prepare the evidence addressing the actual refusal ground.
- File the applicable remedy with its competent authority and retain the dated receipt.
Basis
121–122: alzada for non-final acts.123–124: optional reposición for final acts. Express and presumed filing periods differ;43 governs electronic service.