Abstract. The paper is focused on the immigrant integration policies within the European Union in terms of their aims and priorities, institutional design, and financing. Among the issues raised by the article are the criteria allowing evaluation the effectiveness of these policies. Special attention is given to good practices promoting social inclusion of the newcomers. This is, first of all, measures which help to build confidence between the locals and the migrants. In addition, the author addresses the question concerning the specific features of the Russian case. Up until the mid-2000s, the Russian political class assumed that immigration to our country is a temporary phenomenon, however in the last decade the high rank officials have repeatedly indicated that immigration is a condition for development. This implies that both politicians and civil society in Russia have to abandon looking at migrants as "guest workers." Many of them are here for good. They are permanent residents and potential citizens of Russia, so the future of the country depends on how successful they will be integrated. Along with the illusion of temporality there are other features of the Russian specificity. The author argues that this specificity is made by the over emphasis of the cultural dimension of the integration process and integration policies, at the expense of structural ones. A further feature of the Russian specificity is the absence of empowerment of local authorities. It is rather at the local than at the central level that the most salient integration problems arise and could be solved. So the author suggests moving from a super-centralized bureaucratic system to a more democratic one.