After the accession of Croatia to the European Union, Member states had the possibility temporarily restrict the access of workers from Croatia to their labour markets, restricting the free movement of workers from Croatia. In a first phase (between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2015) 13 Member States applied restrictions. The others decided to fully apply EU free movement rules to Croatian workers.

In a second phase (between 1 July 2015 till 30 June 2018), member states could maintain the restrictions if they notified it to the Commission beforehand. Austria, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the United Kingdom have done so and currently restrictions apply only in those Member States. Croatia has equivalent transitional restrictions for workers from those Member States.

Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Italy, Greece and Spain decided to give citizens from Croatia full access to their labor markets as of 1 July 2015.