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Mark Lowen reports from the Romanian capital, Bucharest
All Bulgarian and Romanian citizens will be free to live and work in the UK after temporary controls in place since 2007 expire on Wednesday.
The UK has not released forecasts of migrant numbers but campaigners say up to 50,000 people a year could come.
Immigration minister Mark Harper said curbs on access to benefits would ensure those heading to the UK would contribute to the economy.
Romanian officials have said talk of an "invasion" is far-fetched.
Business leaders in London have said firms will benefit from having "access to a larger labour pool" and have warned that the debate about immigration has become "highly politicised".
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Nigel Farage: "It's irresponsible to open the door unconditionally"
Bulgarians and Romanians gained the right to visa-free travel to the UK in 2007, when their countries joined the EU.
But since then, they have been able to work in the UK only if they are self-employed, have a job offer, or are filling specialist posts for which no British worker can be found.
The UK government extended this transitional period, which was due to come to an end in 2012, by a further two years and have insisted that they cannot do so again without breaching their EU Treaty obligations.
Welfare strainHowever, more than 60 MPs are backing a campaign to extend the restrictions for a further five years, saying the British economy has not sufficiently recovered from the 2008 recession to cope with the change and that it will put pressure on public services and reduce job opportunities for British workers.
Similar work restrictions in place in eight other EU countries also come to an end at the start of 2014.
Laszlo Andor, the EU commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, said there were already three million people from Bulgaria and Romania living in other European Union member states.
"It is unlikely that there will be any major increase following the ending of the final restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian workers," he said.
Mr Andor said his organisation recognised that migrant influxes could strain welfare systems in host countries but since the EU provided contingency funds for this it was no reason to put up barriers.
Analysis
It's a special new year for Romanians and Bulgarians, finally gaining equal rights to work freely across the EU seven years after their accession.
Some, particularly Britain, fear large numbers will come, mindful that a decade ago the government expected 15,000 per year from Eastern Europe but a million and a half came.
No extra flights have been planned from Bucharest but one coach company has tripled services to London.
Many here talk of their hopes of a better life with higher salaries - but nobody knows quite how many will finally leave.
He said migrants were essential to economic recovery and must be protected from discrimination.
"I firmly believe that restricting the free movement of European workers is not the answer to high unemployment or a solution to the crisis," he added.
Migration Watch - which campaigns for tighter controls on immigration - has suggested that many of the two million Romanians and Bulgarians currently working in Spain and Italy could now be tempted to come to the UK by the higher wages and access to in-work benefits such as tax credits.
'Lucrative destination'It says the UK remains the "most lucrative destination" for migrants across the EU, and estimates that 50,000 people from Romania and Bulgaria will move to the UK each year for five years.
"There's a definite possibility that some will start to shift in this direction," Migration Watch's co-founder, Sir Andrew Green, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He said although a sudden rush was unlikely, the longer term net influx could blow government migration targets off course, raise concerns about border controls and bring Britain's membership of the European Union into question.
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The Bulgarian ambassador, however, has previously estimated that only about 8,000 migrants a year from Bulgaria would come to the UK.
The government is tightening the rules to ensure that migrants cannot claim out-of-work benefits for three months after arriving and will only qualify for support after six months if they have a genuine chance of employment.
Overseas visitors and migrants are also to face new charges for some NHS services in England.
"What they're not entitled to do is come to Britain and start taking out of the system before they've paid into it and that's the most important think that people are concerned about," Mr Harper, told the BBC.
"Start Quote
End Quote Victor Spiersau Romanian migrant workerI don't come to rob your country. I come to work and then go home"
He said the changes put into place would ensure that Bulgarian and Romanian migrants would be coming to the UK for the "right reasons, to work and contribute".
The last Labour government was criticised for hugely under-estimating the levels of migration from Poland and seven other countries in eastern Europe when they joined the EU in 2004 - when no interim controls were imposed.
Commons Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz greeted a plane of Romanians landing at Luton airport on Wednesday morning, which he described as a "snapshot" of those expected to arrive over the coming months.
The Labour MP said the 180-seat aircraft from the central Romanian city of Târgu Mureș had only 140 passengers on board, most of whom already live and work in the UK.
"We've seen no evidence of people who have rushed out and bought tickets in order to arrive because it's the 1st of January," he said.
New arrivals
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Immigration minister Mark Harper says the government has tightened up the benefit system
One of the plane's passengers, Victor Spiersau, was coming to the country for the first time.
The 30-year-old said he already had a car washing job lined up that would earn him 10 euros (£8) an hour - an improvement on the 10 euros a day he received working in the construction industry at home.
"I don't come to rob your country. I come to work and then go home," he said. "Here you pay a lot, in Romania it's very cheap."
Mr Spiersau added: "I don't want to stay here. I want to renovate my home and to make a good life in Romania because it's much easier to live in Romania because it's not expensive."
A Home Office spokesman said the government was working to reduce net migration and would ensure people entering Britain were doing so for the right reasons.
"We welcome those that want to come here to work and contribute to the economy, but no EU national has unrestricted access to the UK - they must be working, studying or self-sufficient."
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