ABSTRACT
Until recently, Finland was a country of emigration rather than of immigration. After the Second World War nearly 700,000 Finns migrated to Sweden, North America, Australia and other countries, mainly because of rapid structural changes in Finnish society (Forsander, 2002; Sandlund, 2004). Historically, migration to Finland has been very limited. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, Finland received refugees from both Russia and the Central European countries. At that time Finland did not have a migration policy, and attitudes towards refugees where generally reserved. During the Second World War, many Ingrian Finns moved to Finland from the Soviet Union but in the peace treaty Finland bound itself to send them back. This still has an impact on immigration to Finland today, since Ingrian Finns are presently regarded as return migrants with special status to return to Finland (Similä, 2003, p. 99).
