Abstract
The purpose of this article is to identify and comparatively analyze the perception of internal migrants by representatives of the host urban society. In the study, a series of focus groups were conducted in three cities to collect data, namely, Astana, Almaty and Shymkent. Discussion questions focused on the following topics: the image of the city in the minds of residents; urban identity, sense of attachment and urban culture; attitudes towards internal migration and internal migrants; practices of interaction with internal migrants. The article presents some results of the research project IRN AP09058370 “Social integration of internal migrants into the local community of large cities: social networks, social capital and development of urban space”, funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The results of the study show that residents of the three cities understand the processes of internal migration, which they regard as a natural phenomenon. In the cities, there is a division into «us» and «them», distancing citizens from internal migrants. The findings can be further used to forecast and adopt certain measures in migration and urban policy. Keywords: city, internal migrants, perception, host society.