Public Support for Immigrants Amnesty Programs: Evidence from a Regional Survey Experiment

Although considerable research has been conducted on different aspects of amnesty programs in various contexts (e.g. Levinson, 2005; Kraler, 2018, Deiana et al., 2025), studies examining public opinion on implementing this initiative to grant legal status to unauthorized immigrants are scarce. Furthermore, existing studies typically tend to focus on the national level, overlooking the regional dimension that is fundamental to designing effective policies and advocacy strategies. Indeed, several arguments plead in favor of this perspective. Public attitudes are shaped by individual characteristics and environmental specifics, including demographic, economic, political and social factors, and identities (Peter and Uebelmesser, 2025). Since national averages can mask the existence of substantial regional differences, national-level studies can prevent the identification of areas of resistance to policy change that require targeted strategies rather than a uniform approach. Furthermore, public opinion in region with considerable powers and high political representation can play a critical role in migration policy, as in other areas of public policy, since elected officials often respond to the preferences of their constituents to align with their view (Valant and Newark, 2016). Taken together, these considerations emphasize the need for a regional analysis of public opinion on the regularization of unauthorized immigrants. More precisely, we designed an experiment embedded within a survey nationally representative at regional level in Belgium (i.e. Brussels, Flanders, Wallonia) to investigate the effect of information on public support for the regularization programs.