Internationalization of science and higher education are accompanied by increasing transnational mobility of early career scholars. Young scientists from Russia become more and more involved in this process, with United Kingdom being one of the major destination countries. Though this trend is discussed as an acute national problem, investigations focus mainly on structural conditions causing migration and influent individual motivation to move abroad, while much less is known about the migration process itself. How is the intention to move transformed into an act of migration? What migratory institutions, networks and resources are involved in the process of migration making it possible? The paper is aimed at answering these questions and explaining how transnational mobility of young Russian scientists is realized, especially taking into account high entry barriers to the United Kingdom. Using migration network theory and institutional theory of migration authors develop the concept of migration mechanism f