The article substantiates the need to institutionalize the integration of migrants based on negative demographic trends in Russia. The authors analyze migration theories and propose the basis of the institutional approach as a methodological basis for the formation of integration models of migrants into the host community. The authors substantiate the importance of analyzing migration behavior as part of the integration process, not only of the migrating, but also of the host community. The results of sociological surveys conducted in 2017 (N = 485) and in 2024 (N = 1400) are presented and show the contradictory dynamics of the host community’s willingness to integrate with non-ethnic migrants. On the one hand, the positive dynamics of the growth of the Russian community’s need for socio-cultural integration with migrants was revealed, and, on the other hand, priority requirements for visitors were identifi ed, such as compliance with cultural norms (93.9%) and Russian laws (88.6%). The survey results show that Russians’ request for socio-cultural integration with migrants has come out on top compared to the 2017 survey. The problem of full-fl edged institutionalization of the migration process is confi rmed by the polarization of the perception of migrants as “their own” (44.5%) and “strangers” (40.2%) during a long stay in the reception society. The conclusions substantiate the need to develop an adaptive model of migrant integration in the context of migration fl ows transformation. It is believed that the formation of social institutions aimed at solving the problems related to the interaction of diverse cultural communities within a common location space will allow for developing the adaptability of the host communities in the conditions of changing the quality and structure of migration flows.