The focus of this paper is to compare present migration situation, history, economy and migration regulation in an European Union country (Finland), and, an EU accessing country (Hungary) and a major non - EU country (Russia). Our material and methods base on literature survey, policy analysis and analysis of the existing statistics and legislation. The results show that even in the era of globalisation that is often claimed to erode states’ regulatory power over the fl ows of capital and people, some regulatory power still exists. Instead of developing their policies in accordance with the largely self-regulating migration process, according to our data, the countries sought to regain political control through reproducing economic, ethnic and national hierarchies.