STORY: :: Barcelona, Spain / April 14, 2026
:: Bangladeshis celebrate Spain's approval of a mass amnesty program that will help regularize migrants
"A lot of people are undocumented, they have no job, no house. Their life is very difficult, they can't live. That is why everyone is so happy."
:: The program is central to PM Sanchez's progressive agenda to harness the economic benefits of migration
"There is more opportunity in immigrants. So thank you Pedro Sanchez, thank you Spain."
The amnesty is a central plank of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's progressive agenda to harness the economic benefits of migration for its aging population, even as other European governments move to tighten their borders to head off political challenges by the far-right.
Online applications will open on Thursday (April 16) after the government rubber-stamped the initiative at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Spain's 50 million-strong population has swelled in recent years to include around 10 million people living in in the country who were born abroad. Spanish think tank Funcas estimates that there are approximately 840,000 undocumented migrants in the workforce at present.
