Purpose: analysis of the most popular and most heuristic theories and concepts of migration that are in demand within the existing discourse of migrationology. Methods: Analysis, abstraction and categorization were chosen as the leading research methods. Results: based on the analysis of the theories and concepts of migration, the most popular popular theories of migration were considered, categorized, and the most heuristic approaches were identified. These include the migration-demographic

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... roach, the demographic approach, the institutional-migration approach, the approach of interethnic and interethnic conflictology, the approach of migration regionalistics, the historical approach, and a number of others. It is proposed to use political and legal analysis as an approach to the study of migration. Scientific novelty: based on the analysis of approaches to the study of migration, the article proposes definitions of migration and migrant, and also shows the heuristicity of the political and legal approach to the study of migration. Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific activities when considering the issues of migrationology. In addition, they can be used in the development of regulatory legal documents in the field of migration, strategic planning documents, analysis and forecasting of migration processes both in general and in relation to individual countries.