What is the Contentious Administrative Lawsuit for nationality by residence?
In a nutshell, the contentious administrative lawsuit (also known as contentious appeal) is a lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice before the Audiencia Nacional.
This contentious administrative appeal aims to expedite the Spanish nationality by residence procedure.
On October 15, 2015, the new process to apply for Spanish nationality by residence came into force. This new law indicates that the term to resolve or provide a response to the interested party is one (1) year.
If in the term of one (1) year still has not obtained a response, the interested party can take advantage of this administrative silence and can make an administrative contentious lawsuit.
What does this mean? In other words, if you have applied for Spanish nationality and you have been waiting for more than one year for a resolution then you can choose to file a contentious lawsuit to expedite the process and obtain a quicker resolution.
Who can file a contentious lawsuit?
It does not matter if you made the application through the old process before the Civil Registry or if you did it the new way (telematically), if more than a year has passed since your application and you still have not received a response, you can file this lawsuit before the Audiencia Nacional to obtain a response to your application for nationality by residence.
Remember that this is an option you can opt for and it is not mandatory and only those who have more than one year waiting for the resolution can make this claim.
What happens if I still do not have a file number (R)?
You can make this application without a file number (R).
Many of the nationality files-especially from 2016, 2017 and 2018-that were filed by a route other than telematic are suffering delays since these files must be scanned and digitized so that they can begin to be processed. At Sterna Abogados we have cases of clients who have opted to make this claim (without a file number) and we have obtained favorable resolutions within months. For all those who are worried because they have not obtained a response and the 1 year deadline has passed, we recommend the administrative contentious lawsuit to get a response as soon as possible.
What are my options if 1 year has passed since my application and I still have no response?
The contentious lawsuit is not the only option, below we explain your options if you have applied for Spanish nationality and have not received a response after the 1 year period has elapsed:
- Contentious Administrative Appeal: this refers to the contentious administrative lawsuit. It is a judicial recourse that can, without any doubt, speed up obtaining a response to your application for Spanish nationality (by residence).
- Resubmitting the file through the telematic platform: This is also considered an option. However, it should be remembered that it is a bit risky because your file will be a new file starting from scratch. This could mean more waiting time.
- Keep waiting: If you think you will get a resolution soon, you could simply keep waiting.
Litigation: Always the best option?
It depends on your case. If your file is perfect, we recommend this route without question. However, if:
- Your file is incomplete
- You did not comply with all the requirements
- Your documentation is not complete
- You have a criminal or police record
- You were absent outside of Spain for longer than necessary.
We DO NOT recommend you to file a contentious lawsuit, but contact us to solve these situations by other means.
If you believe that the file was delivered perfectly, without any mistakes, or missing documents, then we suggest you to make this claim.
Do I need a lawyer and a solicitor?
Yes, it is necessary that you make this contentious appeal with the help of a lawyer and solicitor.
At Sterna Abogados we are experts in immigration and nationality. You can count on our team to advise you in this procedure and obtain a faster resolution.
To contact us you can write us an email to info@sternaabogados.com or call us at +34 911 270 920.