Spain denies claims of monthly €2,800 payments for regularised migrants
Spain’s government has initiated a regularisation programme, allowing an estimated 500,000 undocumented migrants to apply for a renewable one-year residence permit if they have resided in Spain for at least five months.
Spain’s regularisation plan may affect approximately 500,000 undocumented migrants, showcasing a significant shift in immigration policy and addressing substantial social challenges.
Madrid has categorically denied that migrants will receive €2,800 per month, emphasising that beneficiaries can reside and work legally in Spain instead.
Key developments
An article falsely claiming that Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will provide newly regularised migrants with €2,800 per month has circulated online. This report is fabricated as the purported source, El Diario de España, does not exist.
The Spanish government announced a regularisation plan in January 2026, which became effective in April. To qualify, migrants must prove five months of residency and apply for a renewable one-year permit.
Madrid officials have clarified that the programme will not grant monthly payments, emphasising legal residency and employment opportunities instead. Applicants must have a clean criminal record and apply by 30 June.
No, Spain isn’t handing out thousands of euros to newly regularised migrants
Published on •Updated
An image of a newspaper front page is circulating widely online, claiming that Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will give the country’s newly regularised migrants €2,800 per month per family for two years until they find a job.
The article supposedly belongs to a news outlet called “El Diario de España”, and refers to Madrid’s recent measure to grant an estimated 500,000 undocumented migrants legal status by allowing them to apply for a renewable one-year residence permit.
This is provided that they can prove that they have lived in Spain for at least five months.
However, the front page and its claims are false. Simply put, the news outlet, El Diario de España, doesn’t even exist, with no trace of it having a website.
The supposed date of publication of the article is 24 May 2024, but that doesn’t correspond with the real timeline: the Spanish government only announced its regularisation plan in January 2026, and it came into force in April.
The fake article features a picture of Sánchez standing behind a lectern, which says “Inclusion and Social Cohesion Plan 2024-2026”, but an online search yields no evidence of this initiative existing either.
The text of the Royal Decree establishing the regularisation programme does not refer to migrants receiving €2,800 per month.
Madrid has denied that it will be handing out such a sum, reiterating that those benefiting from the measure will be able to reside and work in Spain legally.
They must have a clean criminal record and have until 30 June to apply for a renewable working visa.
The regularisation plan has been the subject of much controversy and misinformation ever since it was first announced.
The Cube has already debunked instances of French politicians claiming that migrants regularised in Spain will be able to settle in France, alongside others falsely alleging that they’ll be automatically granted the right to vote.
Officials at the European Commission have expressed hesitancy at the measure, over fears that it could undermine the open borders of the Schengen Area and conflict with the EU’s desire to tighten immigration controls.
Nevertheless, Spain’s migration minister, Elma Saiz, recently told EU News in an interview that it is a “model for Europe”, which will allow migrants already living and working in the country to gain the appropriate rights and obligations to the state.