An apparatus and process for transporting a migration imaging member over a heat source with minimum stress when developing the migration imaging member. The imaging member is conveyed by pinch transport rollers on either side of the heat source, at least one of the pinch rollers being tapered so that the migration imaging member is only constrained along its two edges. The migration imaging member has the degrees of freedom, in its center, to deform under heat and to settle to its stress free state under the pinch. Also, the heat source does not have to be insulated from the transport rollers since the temperature at the transport rollers is less critical due to the minimized tension in the migration imaging member between the rollers.