How will Spain’s migrant amnesty work?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 March 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Half a million people are in Spain without official permission.
They come mainly from Colombia, Peru, Honduras, Paraguay, and Argentina. It’s thought that most outstay their work, student, or tourist visas.
An amnesty to grant them legal status to remain and work is due to start within weeks.
It's a very different approach from most other countries in Europe that have been tightening controls on migration.
The prime minister has admitted “Some say we've gone too far, that we're going against the current”.
Opposition parties argue that this policy puts pressure on public services.
This week on The Inquiry, we’re asking: “How will Spain’s migrant amnesty work?”
Contributors: Ismael Gálvez Iniesta, assistant professor, department of applied economics, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain Donna Cabrera, independent researcher, international migration lecturer, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia Alana Moceri, international relations professor, IE University, Spain Joan Monràs, economics professor, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Daniel Rosney Researcher: Evie Yabsley Editor: Tom Bigwood Technical Producer: James Bradshaw Production Management: Phoebe Lomas and Liam Morrey
(Photo: Pedro Sánchez the Prime Minister of Spain. Credit: NurPhoto/Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.6 | Welcome to the Inquiry on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.7 | I'm Charmaine Kosier. |
| 0:19.0 | Each week, one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:26.2 | January, 26, Spain. |
| 0:29.6 | Days after the Spanish government announces a major amnesty to legalise or regulate the status of half a million people already in the country who don't have the right to stay there, a 46-second video message appears on social media. |
| 0:48.1 | Yes, my country has offered a path to regulate half a million undocumented migrants. |
| 0:53.2 | It's from the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez. |
| 0:55.8 | Half a million people we live with every day, at the market on the bus, at our children's school, |
| 1:02.0 | people who care for our parents, work in the fields who have built hand-in-hand with us the progress |
| 1:08.1 | of our country. |
| 1:16.3 | The amnesty covers undocumented or irregular migrants who are already in Spain before December the 31st last year and can prove they have lived there for at least five months. |
| 1:21.7 | People with criminal records are excluded. |
| 1:26.3 | Successful applicants will get one-year residency permits which include the right to work legally. |
| 1:31.3 | Some say we've gone too far, that we're going against the current, but I would like to ask you, |
| 1:38.3 | when did recognising rights become something radical? When did empathy become something exceptional? |
| 1:47.1 | The process hasn't started yet, so this week we're asking, how will Spain's migrant |
| 1:52.8 | amnesty work? |
| 1:54.1 | Today is a day historic for our country. |
| 2:03.7 | Part 1, politics. It's important to mention that regularisation in Spain is not a new thing. |
| 2:08.8 | Ismail Galvez Inesta is a macroeconomist and assistant professor |
| 2:12.9 | at the University of the Balearic Islands in Parma on the Spanish island of Mallorca. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.