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DOL to Require English Proficiency for Foreign Truck Drivers
Noncompliant Companies to Receive Deficiency Notices, Certification Halt
Key Takeaways:
- The Labor Department said May 14 that employers seeking foreign commercial drivers must include English-language proficiency requirements in labor certification filings beginning around June 14.
- The guidance affects temporary and permanent foreign driver hiring and follows stricter FMCSA requirements as 1,605 truck drivers received H-2A certifications in fiscal 2026’s first half.
- Companies that omit English-language requirements will receive deficiency notices and face application processing pauses until corrected, the Labor Department said.
The Department of Labor soon will require companies seeking to hire foreign workers as commercial motor vehicle drivers to specify English-language proficiency in their job orders and applications.
“Holding employers to existing English-language proficiency requirements is critical to keeping Americans safe on our roads,” said acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling. “At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Labor is doing our part to ensure that foreign workers possess necessary English language skills to safely operate commercial motor vehicles.”
The agency’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification issued on May 14 “sub-regulatory guidance” about the ability to speak and read English within its frequently asked questions, saying it “clarifies employer obligations to protect workers, motorists.”
The FAQs clarify that all job orders and applications for temporary or permanent labor certification to hire foreign workers to operate a CMV “must include an English language proficiency standard consistent with established federal requirements.”
The agency said its ELP mandate will take effect in 30 days — around June 14 — “to allow the regulated community time to review and will be applied prospectively to filings thereafter.”
DOL stressed it will issue a “Notice of Deficiency” to companies failing to require the ELP mandate.
Noncompliance will also result in the agency imposing a “pause processing of the labor certification application until the employer corrects the filing, as outlined in the FAQs,” the announcement noted.
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The Office of Foreign Labor Certification is reinforcing the ELP mandate to hold employers accountable so that they include English speaking, reading and comprehension as required skills, qualifications and certifications for job opportunities that involve driving a CMV.
“As part of our responsibility to review job orders and labor certification applications for compliance with federal law, the Department of Labor ensures required qualifications — such as the English language proficiency standard — are clearly stated in employer filings,” said Brian Kennedy, director of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification’s Office of Immigration Policy. “This helps promote safety for everyone through regulatory compliance while ensuring clarity and consistency for workers, employers and federal partners.”
DOL pointed out it is acting to comply with tougher federal ELP requirements mandated by another agency, namely the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration under the Department of Transportation.
ELP screening and testing remains the responsibility of FMCSA and the State Department for foreign workers seeking visas. The latter “conducts its own proficiency assessments during visa interviews,” DOL noted.
The State Department has resumed issuing visas to foreign truckers, according to recent news reports. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Aug. 21, 2025, immediately paused issuing worker visas for all 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,” Rubio said then.
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. — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) August 21, 2025
When contacted to verify that these visas are now being issued, the State Department did not respond by press time.
Temporary Foreign Agricultural Truck Driver Metrics
Demand from U.S. companies hiring foreign truckers pushes that employment category into the upper half of the top 10 list of occupations requiring H-2A temporary agricultural program certification.
Heavy- and tractor-trailer truck drivers ranked fourth with 1,605 certified in the first half of fiscal 2026, or 0.6% of the total certified.
Garnering the top spots in that period were farmworkers and laborers in crop, nursery and greenhouse settings (200,275; 78.6%); agricultural equipment operators (30,789; 12.1%); and farmworkers in farm and ranch settings and with aquacultural animals (16,621; 6.5%).
Nearly all requested jobs were approved for certification — about 97% of 262,144 requested.
The states hiring the most temporary agricultural program workers under H-2A visas were:
- Florida (12%)
- Georgia (11%)
- Washington (10%)
- California (9%)
- North Carolina (7%)
