The aim of freedom of movement for workers policy is to enable EU citizens to move to, reside, study, or work in any of the EU Member States. Freedom of movement for workers, which is embedded into the EU treaties, is an integral part of the single market and a central element of its success. It encourages economic development and enables people to travel and spend across borders.

The acquis under this Chapter provides that EU citizens moving to another Member State have certain rights. These rights include: right to work without a working permit (except workers from new Member States undergoing an interim period), national treatment for labourers seeking employment in another Member State, right to equal social security as the nationals, right of family members to accompany the worker and receive family remuneration, full coordination of the social security systems, and mutual recognition of qualifications.

EURES is a European public employment services network, which aims to promote freedom of movement for workers within the EU, and especially by means of close cooperation between national employment services with the view of exchanging information on employment possibilities.

European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is a free card that enables EU citizens to use medical services during their temporary stays in any EU Member State, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland and pay the same price (or get them for free in some States) for those services as their nationals.