Tell us about your case
Six offices in Spain
More than 40 lawyers
All areas of law
In person or remote
Almost every immigration problem begins the same way: an application that looked simple, a missing document or a requirement that was misread. Then comes the request for further documents, the refusal or, in the worst case, a proposed expulsion. That is why it pays to have an immigration lawyer in Madrid before you file anything, and not only once the file has already gone wrong.
At R. Sánchez Abogados, immigration law is handled by a team of immigration lawyers within a law firm of more than 40 professionals, with an office on Paseo de la Castellana. We offer legal advice and personal attention: in each case we study your personal, family and work situation, choose the legal route and strategy that fit you (not always the first one that comes up online), gather the documents and submit the application online. We then follow the file until a decision is issued and, if it is negative, prepare the appeal. We work for people who want to regularise their situation in Spain, for residents who need to renew or change their permit, for families who want to be reunited and for companies that hire foreign workers. If your matter touches other areas of law, the same firm has lawyers in Madrid for the rest.
These are the immigration services and procedures we handle most often from our Madrid office, for people living in the city and the rest of the Community of Madrid. If yours is not listed here, get in touch anyway.
Applications, renewals and changes of temporary residence authorisations (autorización de residencia temporal): non-lucrative residence, residence and work as an employee or self-employed, long-term residence, residence on humanitarian grounds, and changes from a study stay to residence and work.
The social roots (arraigo social), employment roots (arraigo sociolaboral), training roots (arraigo socioformativo), family roots (arraigo familiar) and second chance roots (arraigo de segunda oportunidad) residence permits, the five routes in the current Immigration Regulations. We check that you can prove your time in Spain before we file.
Spanish nationality by residence and by option: requirements, the Instituto Cervantes DELE and CCSE exams, documents from your country and follow-up of the file before the Ministry of Justice.
If your application has been stalled for too long or has been refused, we assess an administrative appeal for reconsideration (recurso de reposición) or a judicial appeal before the administrative courts (recurso contencioso-administrativo) at the National High Court (Audiencia Nacional).
We bring your spouse or partner, your minor children or your dependent parents or grandparents to Spain, and we prepare the family reunification visa at the consulate.
Residence for the spouse, registered partner, children and other family members of a Spanish citizen or of a citizen of another EU country, including the EU family member residence card (tarjeta comunitaria) and its change to permanent.
Study, work and non-lucrative residence visas, and other types, with the documents required by the Spanish consulate in your country.
Advice and representation in asylum applications, support at the interview and appeals if international protection is refused.
Defence in expulsion proceedings, written arguments, appeals and applications to lift an entry ban.
Defence in penalty proceedings under the Immigration Act, for individuals and for companies that hire foreign workers.
Do you need an immigration lawyer in Madrid?
1
2
3
Madrid has authorities that do not exist in other cities, and knowing which one handles your procedure can save months:
Royal Decree 1155/2024, in force since 20 May 2025, changed the rules for roots permits. As a general rule you now have to prove two years of continuous time in Spain, and there are five types: employment (with a work contract), training (with a course of study), social (with family ties or an integration report), family (for people who have a minor or a person with a disability in their care, citizens of another EU member state; family members of Spanish citizens now have an authorisation of their own) and second chance (for people who held an authorisation in recent years and lost it). For all of them you must have no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you have lived in recent years. The most common mistake is filing without being able to prove those years properly: the municipal register (padrón) helps, but you should back it up with other documents. If the roots permit depends on a contract, our employment lawyers in Madrid check that it meets what the rules require.
To obtain Spanish citizenship by residence, the general rule is 10 years of legal and continuous residence in Spain. It is reduced to 2 years for nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal and for Sephardic Jews, to 5 years for those with refugee status and to 1 year, among other cases, for someone who has been married for a year to a Spanish citizen and lives with their spouse. Besides residence, you must show good civic conduct and integration into Spanish society, normally through the Instituto Cervantes exams (nationals of Spanish-speaking countries are exempt from the DELE). The application is submitted online to the Ministry of Justice, which has a year to decide; if it does not, the application is deemed refused and the route of appeal opens.
The renewal of your authorisation is requested before it expires, within the deadlines set by the Regulations. Filing late can bring a penalty and, if too much time passes, mean starting again. Also keep in mind that non-lucrative residence does not allow you to work: if your situation changes, the authorisation has to be modified.
Against a refusal you can lodge an administrative appeal for reconsideration within one month or a judicial appeal before the administrative courts within two months of notification. Choosing between them depends on the reason for the refusal and on whether new evidence needs to be provided. What you should not do is let the deadline pass: the decision would become final and you would have to start from scratch.
In the fast-track procedure (procedimiento preferente), the deadline to submit your arguments is 48 hours, and detention in an Immigration Detention Centre (Centro de Internamiento de Extranjeros) can be ordered for up to 60 days. Every hour counts: ties to Spain, family, work or a pending application can change the decision, but they have to be proved in time. During the procedure you have the right to legal assistance and to an interpreter.
The sooner you tell us, the more room we have
Searches for a top immigration lawyer in Madrid return very similar lists. More useful than a list is to check these points:
They advise you on the legal route to live, work, bring your family or obtain citizenship in Spain, prepare and submit the application, answer requests for further documents and, if the authorities refuse, appeal through the administrative route or before the courts. They also defend you in expulsion and penalty proceedings.
It is not compulsory to submit the application, but it is advisable. An administrative agency can submit papers; a lawyer who works in immigration law checks the requirements, anticipates problems and, if you need to appeal before an administrative court, defends you in the proceedings.
Look for a registered lawyer who works in immigration law, who speaks plainly about how viable your case is without promising results and who gives you a written proposal. Reviews from other clients help too.
It depends on the procedure: a renewal is not the same as a judicial appeal or an expulsion. That is why we study your case first and give you a written proposal, with no generic figures.
Yes. You can lodge an administrative appeal for reconsideration with the Ministry of Justice or go straight to a judicial appeal before the National High Court. We review the reason for the refusal to choose the route.
Yes. We study whether an appeal is possible, whether a revocation can be requested or whether your current situation (roots, family, work) allows another solution. If you have been detained, call us as soon as possible.
Yes. We have six offices in Spain, and appeals before the National High Court are handled in Madrid, wherever you live.
Yes. We handle residence and work authorisations for employees, highly qualified profiles and intra-company transfers, and we defend the company in penalty proceedings.
