The U.S. continues to crack down on underqualified foreign truck drivers, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking to social media platform X to make the announcement.
“Effective immediately we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers. The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” he posted.
While Canadian truck drivers do not require visas to operate commercial motor vehicles to and from the U.S., some foreign drivers – including those based in Canada and Mexico – do. The Private Motor Truck Council of Canada reached out to the U.S. consulate for clarification on the potential impact on Canadian-domiciled drivers.
“We have confirmed this order only effects E and H visas. This order does not affect B1/B2 visas, which most third-country-national drivers in Canada use to enter the United States, so the order should not affect them,” the consulate advised.
“Relatedly though, as part of their visa interview they must display a strong level of English language skills, or they can be refused the visa.”
Rubio’s statement came after a high-profile fatal truck crash in Florida, in which three people were killed after running into the trailer of a tractor-trailer that was making an illegal u-turn. The truck driver was licensed in California, even as an illegal resident.
The U.S. trucking industry supported the pause on visas.
“ATA supports pausing work visas for commercial drivers and believes the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs needs serious scrutiny, including the enforcement of entry-level driver training standards,” the American Trucking Associations (ATA) said in a statement.
“At a minimum, we need better accounting of how many non-domiciled CDLs are being issued, which is why we applaud Transportation Secretary [Sean] Duffy for launching a nationwide audit in June upon our request. We also believe a surge in enforcement of key regulations — including motor carrier compliance — is necessary to prevent bad actors from operating on our nation’s highways, and we’ll continue to partner with federal and state authorities to identify where those gaps in enforcement exist.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association sent a letter to Secretary Duffy earlier this week, calling on him to suspend states’ authority to issue non-domiciled CDLs for interstate commerce, at the very lease, until a review of that practice is completed.
