Renewal denied for low income, my appeal won in 21 days
i keep tellign people that the generic advice to just "show more savings" doesnt always work anymore. they want to see the regular monthly deposits matching the new 2025 rates exactly. congrats on getting it overturned so fast though. 21 days is actually lightning speed for Spain.
This is massive. I am coming up on my first renewal in Malaga this summer and I have been stressing about the income requirements since they updated the SMI. Did you use a lawyer for the appeal or just file the recurso yourself? It feels like the local office there is getting way stricter than Madrid.
I definitely used a lawyer for the paperwork. Doing it yourself with the Malaga office is basically asking for a headache. The fee was worth it just to have someone else deal with the portal errors.
Glad it worked out but man it's annoying how inconsistent these offices are. I heard someone in Valencia got approved with the same exact docs that you probably got denied for. It really feels like it depends on which official opens your file on what morning. What was the specific reason they gave in the first denial letter?
They said my average monthly was 50 euros short because I didn't account for the exchange rate fluctuation from mid-2024. Total nonsense but a win is a win.
This makes me so nervous for my renewal in July. I'm also a freelancer in Malaga and my income is all over the place. Some months I make 5k and some months it's 1500. Are they strictly looking for the 200 percent SMI every single month or is it an average over the year? Your post makes it sound like they want to see every single month hitting the mark.
It has to be every month. If you have one month below the limit they can use it as a reason to deny. It is stupid but that is how the officials in Malaga seem to be playing it lately.
The fact that you had to appeal at all is a joke. If you have 28k in a Spanish bank account, that clearly shows you aren't going to be a burden on the state. I sometimes feel like they just deny people to clear their desk and hope we don't appeal. Did you use a lawyer for the appeal or did you write the cover letter and submit the docs yourself?
honestly the sub advice is usually just people repeating what happened in 2023. the rules in malaga specifically have shifted a lot lately. i had a similar scare with my residency card last year. really glad you shared the reality of the 2025 situation. stay safe out there.
exactly this. people are still quoting the old 2023 guides like they are law. the 2025 landscape is totally different for income proofs.
I disagree with everyone saying it's fast. 21 days of thinking you might have to pack up and leave Malaga is psychological torture. Did they give you any trouble with the 'vida laboral' or did you just show the US side of things? I'm curious if they checked your social security payments here too.
They always check the social security if you've been here a year. If you aren't caught up on your autonomo payments you're basically toast before you even start.
OP said they are a freelancer so the invoices were likely foreign but the tax residency is here. It's a mess of paperwork.
I think the mistake was assuming the 28k lump sum would carry the application. Extranjeria is notorious for ignoring savings if they can't see the 'recurring' nature of the work. They want to see that the company is actually paying you every single month. I tell everyone moving to Malaga to skip the savings talk and just show 12 months of clean bank movements. Glad you got it sorted though, Calle Duquesa is usually a nightmare to deal with.
21 days is a miracle. My friend submitted an appeal for a different visa issue at that same office and she has been waiting four months now. It really seems to depend on which clerk gets your file. For anyone else reading this, definitely include the invoices like OP did. Bank statements alone rarely tell the whole story for freelancers.
This is a great heads up about the Calle Duquesa office. I heard they were moving some digital nomad stuff to a different department but I guess not for renewals. I'm going to make sure my US statements are consolidated into one PDF when I go in. Did you have to get a new digital certificate to submit the appeal online or did you go in person?
thank you for posting this. i am about to submit mine next week and i was going to use the old income figures since my contract hasn't changed. guess i need to ask for a raise or show way more liquid funds before i hit send. did they ask for fresh bank statements during the appeal process?
The 2025 income jump is no joke. I think a lot of digital nomads are going to get caught out by the 200 percent of SMI rule this year. Your 21 day turnaround gives me some hope though because usually an appeal takes six months or more. did you have to go to the office in person at all?
Congrats on winning the appeal. 21 days is actually super fast for Malaga. I had a similar scare with my renewal last month because my invoices are in USD and the exchange rate dipped right when they reviewed it. Did you get your documents translated by a sworn translator for the appeal or did they accept the original US bank statements? I've heard they are getting stricter about everything being in Spanish.
Wait, did they really reject you just because of the exchange rate? That's terrifying for those of us on the edge of the requirement. I always try to keep a 10 percent buffer just in case.