Spain Visa Refused from the UK: Reasons and Reapplying

TL;DR

Spain refused 8,138 of the 138,195 UK applications it decided in 2025, 6.1 percent, from 2.2 percent in Edinburgh to 8.0 percent in Manchester. Your letter is the EU standard form with numbered reasons ticked, usually 2, 3, 10, 12, 13 and 16. Lodge a recurso de reposición with the consulate within one month, go to the Madrid court within two, or reapply with a changed file. Our desk prepares the new file for £99; the consulate alone decides.

The numbers

European Commission data for applications decided at Spain's three UK consulates, each of which decides the files lodged through its BLS International centre:

Spain takes more UK applications than any other Schengen state, so a moderate rate still produced more than 8,000 refusals in a year. The spread between the three consulates is wide, and the Commission publishes counts, not reasons, so the data cannot say whether the difference lies in the consulates or in the files they receive. The ranking of every state is on Schengen visa refusal rates from the UK.

Schengen short-stay visa key facts, 2026

Schengen short-stay visa (Type C)	2026
Visa fee (adult)	€90
Visa fee (child 6 to 11)	€45
Visa fee (child under 6)	Free
Maximum stay	90 days in any rolling 180-day period
Standard processing	15 calendar days (up to 45 in some cases)
Travel insurance, minimum cover	€30,000
Passport	Issued within 10 years; valid 3+ months beyond your trip
Member states	29 countries

The numbered reasons on the standard form

Every Schengen state uses the same refusal form, Annex VI of the Visa Code, revised 2 February 2020. The consulate ticks one or more of 17 reasons. For someone applying from the UK, these are the ones that appear and what each means in plain words:

The remaining reasons are rare for UK residents: 1 (a false travel document), 6 to 9 (a Schengen Information System alert or a threat to public policy, health or international relations), 14 and 15 (visas at the border and airport transit) and 17 (revocation at the holder's request, which carries no right of appeal).

Reading your letter

The form comes back with your passport from BLS International. Read three things: which numbers are ticked, any text in the "please specify" space next to 11, and the paragraph at the bottom about appeals, which gives the routes and the time limits. The Spanish consular service says a refusal is always notified in writing with its grounds. Then match each ticked number to what you submitted. A tick at 13 with a thin employer letter, or at 3 with a single statement, usually explains itself; a tick at 10 or 12 means something did not check out, and the new file has to make that document verifiable. The general guide is Schengen visa refused from the UK.

Appeal or reapply: the Spanish route

Spain's consular service publishes two routes on its UK visa page, and your letter repeats them:

• Recurso de reposición. A written appeal to the consular office that refused you, within one month from the day after you received the notification. It is written in Spanish, it covers one file only, it identifies you, the decision and the reason you say it is wrong, and it is signed and dated with a contact address. Email is not accepted; the consulate's pages describe lodging it at the consulate or by post. The consulate has one month to decide.
• Recurso contencioso-administrativo. A case before the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid, within two months from the day after notification. This is a court route and usually means a Spanish lawyer.

An appeal argues that the decision was wrong on the file as submitted; it is not the place to add what you forgot. It does not stop you reapplying at the same time.

A reapplication is the practical route when the file was thin. It is not time-limited, it lets you add what was missing, and the decision comes within 15 calendar days of the new appointment as standard, up to 45, which the consular service's page confirms. It costs a second consulate fee of 90 euros, about 81 pounds, and a second BLS service fee of £14.85. Slots release in batches at all three BLS cities, so book the new appointment the day the file is ready; see BLS Spain visa appointments in the UK. Apply to the consulate for where you live: the London consulate asks for proof of residence in its district, and a different city's refusal rate is not a reason to lodge there.

What to change in the new file

1. Answer the ticked number first. If it was 13, the new file leads with the employer letter, the tenancy and the status proof. If it was 3, it leads with six months of statements and the income behind them.
2. Make every document agree. Names as in the passport, dates as on the flights, the hotel for every night, the insurance for every day, and the same dates on the BLS form.
3. Rebuild the itinerary for Spain specifically. A mainland and islands trip needs each flight or ferry leg and each night accounted for; a trip that continues to Portugal or France needs the main-destination rule checked on which country to apply to.
4. Declare the refusal on the form and in the cover letter, with the date and the reason, and say in one sentence what has changed.
5. Write the cover letter last, so it points at every document that answers the previous letter. See the cover letter guide.

If this is a second refusal, what changes in a third application covers the extra ground.

What a refusal costs

The 90 euro consulate fee and the BLS service fee are not refunded. Non-refundable travel bought before the decision is lost, which is why the application stage should run on reservations and free-cancellation bookings. The refusal is recorded and asked about on every future Schengen form. A recurso de reposición costs postage and time but no fee; the Madrid court route costs a lawyer.

A prepared reapplication for £99

Our desk prepares the new application for a flat £99 service fee: the BLS booking in your own account at the consulate for where you live, the form with the previous refusal declared correctly, and a document pack built around the numbered reason on your letter, with a cover letter that answers it. The file is ready within 24 hours of your complete documents and details, and the appointment booked within 3 working days of a complete file, subject to availability, or the fee back. We do not draft Spanish-language appeals; we prepare applications. You pay the consulate and BLS fees; the consulate alone decides, and no agency can promise an outcome. Start at the plan step, read what the Spain visa service does and does not include, or see the Schengen visa service for any country. Build it yourself with the checklist generator and the Bundler, and start from Spain visa from the UK for the BLS process.