Last Sunday, 15th of March, the Royal Decree declared the state of alarm and determining the extraordinary measures according to the indications of the health authorities for the evolution of COVID-19.
Regarding the immigration procedures, whose competence corresponds to the General State Administration which has been issued several notifications to avoid people going to the immigration offices (which are closed most of them) also has promoted submission of the online application.
The main measure that affects this matter is the suspension of administrative deadlines, for the following 15 days, starting from March 16, terms are suspended and the deadlines for processing procedures in the public sector are interrupted. Once the mentioned decree loses validity, although it is very likely that it will be extended for a longer time, the calculation of the terms will continue. It also indicated that the statute of limitations and expiration are also suspended. For practical purposes, if we receive a request to provide documentation within a period of 10 days, and the term expires during this suspension period, we should stop the calculation of the 10 days on Monday, March 16 and continue it when this alarm situation ends. Likewise, the deadlines for positive silence are effected, the files will not fall into positive silence during this period, the deadlines for filing administrative appeals against denial resolutions are also include in the same situation.
For those persons who had an appointment at the Immigration Office of Murcia street in Barcelona during this period, a provisional measure has been established and applications may be submitted online by digital certificate by the applicant or by any other representative, therefore face-to-face appointments are canceled. For this reason, from AGM lawyers we can exclusively offer the service of filing such applications for those who need it and do not have a digital certificate.
In Madrid, the Immigration Office will close its doors to the public without online submission channel, for the moment, no alternative has been provided yet.
The police station appointment – Police service has also interrupted, through the official website that the issuance of immigration documents has been suspended and those appointments that are already reserved are canceled, this affects those people pending to request a new Identity Card of Foreigners.
Finally, the Civil Registry of Madrid, after the long queues that occurred in the early hours of Monday, March 16th, has announced that it will close its doors, except for those people who must register their newborn on time, the registration of marriages and for the issuance of funeral permit.
If you have any questions about how the state of alarm affects your immigration process, please contact AGM Abogados.
Laura Caballero
Immigration Lawyer
AGM Abogados
