It is normal for administrative silence to occur during aliens procedures. In most cases it is a negative silence. Today we will talk about what ‘negative silence’ means in the process of obtaining Spanish nationality and what you can do about it.

But... What is administrative silence? Administrative silence occurs when someone requests something from the State Administration and does not receive a response within a certain period of time. Administrative silence can be positive or negative.

For example, to obtain Spanish nationality, it is important to bear in mind that the Ministry of Justice takes up to 12 months to examine and resolve applications. If there is no response during this time, the application may be considered rejected due to negative administrative silence.

Please note that if your application has been pending for more than a year and the Ministry of Justice has not issued a decision, this does not necessarily mean that you have been denied Spanish nationality. Some cases have taken up to two years to be approved, and in some cases up to 7 years.

Your application for Spanish nationality will be approved or rejected depending on whether you meet the requirements. It does not depend on how long you have been waiting.

It is essential that you meet all the requirements to avoid problems in obtaining Spanish nationality. Among the most common problems are:

• Not having been in Spain for a certain period of time.
• Have a criminal record.
• Not have passed exams such as the CCSE and/or the DELE.

It is important for you to know that the Ministry of Justice is still unable to process the full volume of applications for Spanish nationality coming from abroad:

• Online processing of applications for Spanish nationality.
• Registration and information on nationality documents presented at the Public Registry of the Government Delegation or Subdelegation.
• Spanish nationality documents with an appeal pending before the Audiencia Nacional.
• Special permits for the CCSE and DELE exams.

There are still a number of 2019 files to be processed. There are currently few staff working on these dossiers, which continues to cause significant delays in the processing of these applications.

Already in 2020, the processing of applications has been severely affected by the coronavirus crisis. However, the Spanish government, specifically the Ministry of the Interior, has recently put in place shock plans to reduce waiting times. As a result of this work, many cases now have shorter waiting times, with a reduction of between 5 and 6 months.

So if you don't receive a response within a year, don't stress or think that your application has been lost.

Also, if you want to speed up the process and get an answer sooner, you can go to court by filing an administrative appeal.

Contentious-administrative appeal

The contentious-administrative appeal is often an alternative to reduce waiting times. Once filed and admitted, Spanish nationality is usually granted in about 3-6 months in most cases, without having to go through all the normal procedures of the process.

However, what is a contentious-administrative appeal? A contentious-administrative appeal is a judicial remedy to challenge the rules and acts of the Administration that end an administrative procedure.

However, as this is a court procedure, you must have a lawyer and a solicitor with you to represent you in court throughout the proceedings.

This rule is mandatory. Both parties must be involved in order for you to be able to file the claim and prepare the statement of claim to be served.

Conclusion

Administrative silence is always negative, unless otherwise provided by law.

In some very exceptional circumstances, the lack of action or response from the administration may be considered ‘positive administrative silence’, but these circumstances are clearly defined by law. Even if there is negative administrative silence, the authorities are still responsible and must respond to the initial request.

Therefore, you may have doubts as to whether you should appeal an administrative silence. The truth is that the answer is different for everyone. But this appeal is a good way to get a quicker response to your application for Spanish nationality.