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The focus of this paper is one of the paradoxes of international migration: the unexpectedly low level of migration between neighbouring countries with large macro-economic differentials; in this case migration from the former Soviet republics to Sweden. In line with Faist (2000), one assumption in the study is that the dynamics of international migration are strongly influenced by the emergence of a transnational social space. Based on a database (ASTRID) containing individual information about all residents in Sweden for the period 1986–2003, the study includes an analysis of migration in relation to the transnational social space -- its bridging and adaptive functions -- including labour market integration, family situation, intermarriage, population circulation and the spatial clustering of immigrants.

The study reveals an over-representation of female immigrants and a high frequency of intermarriage among women migrants. Moreover, a changing migrant composition over the past decades was found, including a growing number of students, whereas the empirical analyses indicate a rather weak labour market position among immigrants from former Soviet republics. However, the position of recently arrived migrants has been enhanced over time, and migrants who stay for longer periods attain a stronger position on the labour market. The analyses also show an increasing number of highly educated persons among immigrants from the former Soviet republics. Furthermore, migrants from the former Soviet republics who move to Sweden tend to remain rather than return. In addition, the empirical analysis shows only minor tendencies of spatial clustering among the migrants. In sum, the study indicates that the lack of a more developed transnational social space may explain the rather low level of migration but also that the changing mobility patterns could represent an initial phase of a denser transnational social space that may trigger higher migration rates between the former Soviet republics and Sweden in the near future.

The disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the European Union enlargement in 2004 and 2007 respectively have changed the preconditions of east-west migration. However, the geopolitical changes have not resulted in the ‘mass migration’ that was initially expected from the EU15. Sweden is one of the countries to which migration from East-Central Europe has been modest, although it has increased. Reasons why this migration is still limited in Sweden are not only connected to political structures; occupation, family situation, and social networks are additional issues that matter in the migration decision-making process. This paper explores migration motives and the outcome of the migration in terms of employment, family status and satisfaction with the migration decision for people moving to Sweden from Russia and the East-Central European countries, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.The study is based on a questionnaire survey and reveals significant gender differences when it comes to migration motives, and women tend to state social reasons to a higher degree than men. Although social motives predominate among the migrants, economic reasons tend to become more important over time, particularly after the year 2000. Moreover, the majority of the respondents report that to migrate was a fairly easy decision to make. However, some differences exist depending on country and gender, whereby the decision is perceived as less easy for migrants from Russia and Poland and for women who stated social and economic motives. There is also evidence that motives are of importance for labour market success among respondents.

In this study the focus is directed beyond the economic issues of integration. Instead, the emphasis is placed on migrants’ perceived sense of belonging in the receiving society. This is done by analysing the effect of socio-demographic characteristics, social networks and adaptation time, in terms of duration of stay, citizenship and language proficiency, on immigrants from Russia, the Baltic States and Poland in Sweden. Based on a representative questionnaire, the main finding is that there are significant gender differences in the immigrants’ sense of belonging. The analysis reveals that local ties are significant in women’s sense of belonging in Sweden, while men’s sense of belonging is mainly affected by how long the immigrant has lived in Sweden and language proficiency.