Present Day
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union about 25,000 Ingrians and their family members from Russia and Estonia have moved to Finland, where they are eligible for automatic residence permit in the Finnish Law of Return. In 2010 the Finnish government decided to stop the remigration and new residence seeking Ingrians will be treated the same as any other foreigner. There are still about 15,000 people in the remigration queue.
The number of people who declared their nationality as Finnish in the 2002 Russian census was 34,000 (down from 47,000 in 1989 (RSFSR).
As many Ingrian Finns, including mixed families, who moved to Finland did not speak any language other than Russian and in many cases identify themselves as Russians, mostly the younger generation, there are social integration problems similar to those of any other migrant groups in Europe, to such an extent that there is a political debate in Finland over the retention of the Finnish Law of Return. On the contrary, native Finnish-speakers easily assimilate to mainstream Finnish culture, leaving little trace of original Ingrian traditions.
Read more about this topic: Ingrian Finns
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