THE WAYPOINT SUR
The door the court reopened
If you are renewing the residence permit commonly called Spain's non-lucrative visa (NLV), the regulation's online-only filing rule has been annulled. Separate electronic-filing obligations can still apply.
Making a renewal online-only requires a justified regulation for a defined group shown to have the means to use it. The Supreme Court found that justification insufficient.
Our read: digital-by-default just met its legal ceiling. The catch is that the Ministry's own form and renewal sheet still describe the rule the court removed.
Why the rule fell, and what would bring it back
Article 197.2 of the immigration regulation, Royal Decree 1155/2024, made electronic filing obligatory for seven kinds of application, among them NLV renewals and renewals of a cuenta propia — self-employed residence permit. The Supreme Court annulled the paragraph in full on 8 July 2026, and the ruling took general effect when the Boletín Oficial del Estado — state gazette, the BOE, published it on 22 September as BOE-A-2026-19632.
The court's press office gave the reason: La sentencia entiende que el Reglamento no justificó suficientemente que todos los afectados dispusieran de los medios y capacidades necesarios para utilizar obligatoriamente los procedimientos telemáticos — the ruling holds that the Regulation did not sufficiently justify that everyone affected had the means and capabilities needed to be made to use the online procedures.
The government may restore online-only filing by royal decree or, where that rank is not required, ministerial order. It must justify a proportionate requirement for specified procedures and groups shown to have electronic access.
Publication alone would not establish validity. Over the coming year, watch for a new rule and for changes to the Ministry's guidance.
On our reading, the surviving article lets NLV renewers choose in-person or online filing unless independently obliged to use electronic means. It does not establish where to lodge an in-person application.
The form and the sheet still say online only
Sometimes the official version is wrong; we said so on 23 September about Málaga airport. Immigration supplies two examples, both re-read on Monday 28 September. Confirmed September 2026.
The Ministry's official NLV application form, EX-01, carries a footnote: las renovaciones se deben presentar únicamente a través de los medios electrónicos habilitados — renewals must be filed only through the enabled electronic means, citing article 197.2.b, the letter the court struck. The same form asks for the original and a copy.
Its renewal sheet, Hoja 7 — sheet 7, last updated May 2025, lists one place to file: online, through Mercurio — the Ministry's electronic filing platform, which needs a certificado digital — digital certificate or the electronic national identity card, the DNIe, plus Autofirma — the state's signing app. Cl@ve — the state's shared password login is not on its list for filing.
A stale form is not proof that anyone is refusing paper; we found no case of online-only being enforced since 22 September.
What to do now
Nothing we found establishes that the Oficina de Extranjería — immigration office in Málaga takes an in-person renewal on paper, or through which appointment. If online filing is failing you, ask first.
Ask the Oficina de Extranjería de Málaga, Calle Mauricio Moro Pareto 13, 29006 Málaga (general information 952 980 460, weekdays 9:00 to 14:00), whether it will take your EX-01 renewal in person, citing the annulment of article 197.2 in BOE-A-2026-19632. Confirmed September 2026.
If the office confirms the route, take the original form and a copy. Obtain a filing receipt when you submit.
The fee is €16.40, paid on Modelo 790 — form 790, code 052, heading 2.2.1. Filed in person, it is due within 10 working days of filing. Confirmed September 2026.
If online works for you, it remains available.
This is general information, not legal advice on your file.
If asking, or the Spanish at the counter, is where this stalls, our Navigator service arranges the paper filing and the documents and can even go with you to the Oficina de Extranjería. Though, sadly, we can't promise acceptance, an appointment, or a date.
What did not move
The 19 August figures stand: €57,600 for one applicant over two years, €72,000 with one dependant.
That is 400% of the IPREM, the state's reference income figure (€600 a month): €2,400 a month for the main applicant, plus €600 per dependant, another 100% of IPREM, as sufficient means or periodic income; the regulation sets no lump-sum balance rule.
More than 183 days in Spain in the calendar year ("more than", and separate from tax residency).
Sickness insurance held throughout the authorisation being renewed, and continuing; schooling of children in your care who are of compulsory school age during their stay in Spain; the fee.
The renewed NLV runs two years unless long-term or long-term European Union (EU) residence is due. Our 18 August issue said a renewed residence permit now runs four years; for an NLV that was wrong, and four years is the ordinary term for some other permits, cuenta propia among them.
A decision and notification within three months from filing, silence after that counting as approval, then the Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero — foreigner's identity card, the TIE, requested in person within one month of the notification.
That list is not every provision that can apply to a file.
Your window is your own
An NLV authorisation expiring between 29 September and 29 November 2026 is inside its two-month renewal window now. One that expired between 29 June and 28 September is in the three-month late window: filing inside it extends the old authorisation until the decision, with a possible sanction.
There is no group deadline. A 29 June expiry gives 29 September only as an unadjusted example. Outside an electronic registry, a non-working last day where you live or where the receiving office sits can extend the deadline. An electronic registry uses only its own official calendar.
Other permits and the card step
These renewal routes are outside the article 197.2 annulment: cards under the United Kingdom and European Union Withdrawal Agreement, the Brexit treaty; EU citizens and EU-family cardholders; digital nomad permits; and legacy golden visas.
The Withdrawal Agreement window is the calendar month before expiry or the three calendar months after, with a possible sanction. Our 18 August issue said 30 days before to 90 after. That was wrong.
A general statement that TIE renewals are affected would be wrong: the card step was never in that paragraph. A cuenta propia renewal also loses article 197.2's online-only obligation, subject to any separate electronic-filing duty; the surviving article sends it to the competent Oficina de Extranjería, in person or electronically, its window opens two months ahead, and the term ordinarily runs four years.
For my fellow American citizens: voting from Spain on 3 November
The United States (US) midterms are on Tuesday, 3 November. Without droning on about politics, I think we can all agree this is a very important election and a reminder that every vote counts.
Our new guide, How to vote in US elections from Spain, lists every state's registration deadline; the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) publishes the official rules at FVAP.gov.
The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) registers you and requests your ballot in one form. In about a dozen states, including Alaska, Florida, Georgia and Ohio, the FPCA registration deadline is 4 or 5 October; others run later. Registration, ballot-request and ballot-return deadlines differ; check your state's page on FVAP.gov for dates, delivery rules and cut-off times. Every state must let you receive the blank ballot electronically if you ask; return methods vary.
If a requested ballot is still missing on 4 October, contact your election office and use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB), the federal backup; it counts only if your request arrived by the deadline. If the state ballot turns up later, send it too; only one will be counted.
For voters abroad without a military post, FVAP recommends mailing a ballot back 35 days before the election, which is today. The US consular agency in Fuengirola, Avenida Juan Gómez "Juanito" 8, Edificio Lucía 1º-C, takes ballots Monday to Friday from 10:30 to 12:00, in the supplied postage-paid envelope or with proper US postage; allow up to 30 days in transit. Confirmed September 2026.
Spanish-lite
At the counter or on the phone: ¿Admiten la renovación de la residencia no lucrativa en papel, presencialmente? El Tribunal Supremo anuló el artículo 197.2 del Reglamento. — Do you accept the non-lucrative residence renewal on paper, in person? The Supreme Court annulled article 197.2 of the Regulation.
Once it is in: ¿Me puede dar el justificante de presentación, por favor? — Could you give me the receipt of filing, please?
The bottom line
The state must justify compulsory online filing for the group it covers. If you are not separately obliged to file electronically, our reading supports an in-person renewal. Ask Málaga how it will accept yours; obtain the filing receipt when you submit, within your own deadline.
See you on the paseo — A. and the WaypointSur team, original and a copy, in hand, as the form instructs.
