The accelerating migration movements dictate the need to coordinate the efforts and policies of different states, this makes the issues of managing migration processes of particular relevance and importance. The migration crisis in Europe in 2015-2019 turned a serious challenge for the viability of the European Union itself. The acute phase of the most recent migration crisis forced the European Union to revise existing migration policies, with regard to both EU member states and to migrants heading to Europe. The present study focuses on an analysis of the vocabulary of EU official legal documents in order to identify the specificities of migration regulation during the acute phase of the migration crisis. The use of discursive, pragmalinguistic and content analyses shows that migration institutional discourse functions as a strong ideological tool that can be used not only to control hostile attitudes in society but also to minimize conflicts in the process of migrants’ integration. The specific linguistic techniques identified in the process of the analysis seem promising in terms of harmonisation of migration processes. The experience of the European Union may be of practical importance for Russia and the countries of the near abroad which also have encountered the migration problems. Therefore the understanding of approaches that contribute to the regulation of migration processes can help reduce the level of aggression in the countries of migrants acceptance.