Spanish nationality: no answer after a year — what you can do

The Administration has one year to decide an application for nationality by residence. If that time passes with no answer, the application is deemed refused by silence, which gives you two options: keep waiting for the express decision, which the Administration is still obliged to issue, or go to court.

Neither is always best. It depends on how long you have waited, the state of your file and what the wait costs you.

What silence means in nationality cases

In most immigration procedures the period is three months. For nationality it is one year from when the application enters the register of the competent body, and no answer amounts to a deemed refusal.

Two important points:

• It is not a real refusal. No decision says you fail the requirements. It is a legal fiction so that you can go before a judge.
• The Administration must still decide. In fact, the great majority of files are decided expressly, even if late.

Article 22.5 of the Civil Code expressly preserves judicial review in the administrative courts against the grant or refusal of nationality.

First: check your file

Many delays have a specific cause you can fix yourself:

1. Check the status on the Ministry of Justice's online office with your file number.
2. Check electronic notifications. A request not opened within ten calendar days is treated as rejected, and an unanswered request can lead to the file being closed.
3. Check your documents. Expired criminal record or birth certificate, missing legalisation or a renewed passport you did not report are typical causes of a stall.
4. Keep your residence valid. Residence must remain legal throughout: renew your card on time.

Option 1: wait

This makes sense when the file is complete, no requests are pending and the status shows progress. It costs nothing and carries no procedural risk.

While you wait:

• Do not let your residence permit expire.
• Report any change of address or marital status.
• Avoid long absences from Spain and anything affecting the "good civic conduct" the Civil Code requires.

Option 2: judicial review

Once the year has passed with no decision, you can bring an administrative court action (recurso contencioso-administrativo) against the deemed refusal. What usually happens is that, on receiving the claim, the Administration reviews the file and decides it.

What to know:

• You need a lawyer and a court representative (procurador). It is a court procedure, with its costs.
• It only makes sense with a clean file. If a document is missing or something is doubtful (records, absences, means), the action may trigger an express refusal.
• It is not a magic accelerator. The court's timing counts too.

This is a decision to take with legal advice. You can discuss it in a video call with an immigration lawyer from our team before deciding.

If an express refusal arrives

The decision will state the reasons and the remedies available. In general, against an express decision ending the administrative route you can:

• Lodge an optional appeal for reconsideration (recurso de reposición) within one month before the same body, or
• Go directly to the administrative courts within two months.

If the reason can be fixed — a document, an exam — it is sometimes quickest to correct it and file a new application.

If it is granted: you are not done

With the grant decision you are not yet Spanish. The Civil Code requires three steps (article 23):

1. Swear or promise loyalty to the King and obedience to the Constitution and the laws.
2. Renounce your previous nationality, unless you are a national of an Ibero-American country, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal, or a Sephardic Jew originating from Spain.
3. Register the acquisition at the Civil Registry.

And one deadline is unforgiving: the grant lapses one hundred and eighty days after notification if you have not appeared to complete those requirements (article 21.4). Book the oath appointment as soon as you receive the decision.

After registration you can apply for the Spanish DNI and passport.

Common mistakes

• Not checking notifications for months.
• Letting the residence card expire thinking "nationality is already applied for".
• Going to court with an incomplete file.
• Letting the one hundred and eighty days pass after the grant.
• Moving home without reporting it.

Frequently asked questions

Does the year run from when I filed?

From when the application entered the register of the body competent to process it. Periods when the procedure is stalled for reasons attributable to you, such as an unanswered request, may suspend the count.

Does going to court harm my file?

The action is not a punishment, but it causes the file to be examined closely. If there are weak points, fix them first.

Can I travel while I wait?

Yes, with a valid residence card. Avoid long absences: residence must be continuous.

What if my criminal record certificate expires during the wait?

What matters is that it was valid at filing. Even so, the Administration may ask for an updated one.

Do I have to renounce my nationality?

Only if you are not from one of the excepted countries. The effect of that renunciation in your home country depends on that country's law.

Your next step

If you have not yet applied, the free test works out your date and prepares your document list. If you have waited more than a year, tell Resi your case and consider a video call with an immigration lawyer from our team.