‘Londongrad': A New ‘Home' for ‘Migrants' from the Post-Soviet Space?

This paper seeks to uncover whether and how London turns into ‘home’ for post-1991 ‘migrants’. It draws on a qualitative research investigating migration trajectories of professional women originating from the post-Soviet space. Therefore, firstly, a regional perspective in understanding migration will be conceptualised as the alternative to methodological nationalism and ethnicity-centred approaches in migration studies. Its strengths and weaknesses will be discussed. Secondly, gradual and smooth moving to London will be explained through previous experiences of mobility, ‘urbanity’ factor, re-migration and living ‘in-between-cities’ phenomenon. Thirdly, women’s pre-migration expectations and initial impressions about life in the UK/London will be compared with ‘stabilizing’ feelings and thoughts about new ‘home’. Finally, their preferences for living in London as well as plausible future mobility scenarios will be analysed. Overall, this paper should reveal whether these women feel themselves as ‘migrants’ in so called ‘Londongrad’.