State Department Restarts Visas for Foreign Truckers

“We will not compromise on Americans’ safety,” a State Department spokesperson told Transport Topics. (grandriver/Getty Images)

The State Department has resumed issuing work visas to foreign commercial truck drivers but is taking a harder line on approvals, with stricter screening and vetting processes now in place.

“We will only issue a visa if the applicant demonstrates the necessary skills, experience and English-language proficiency required to safely operate these vehicles in the United States,” a State Department spokesperson confirmed May 22 to Transport Topics. “We will not compromise on Americans’ safety.”

The State Department on Dec. 20 updated its screening and vetting processes in coordination with the Departments of Transportation, Labor and Homeland Security, the spokesperson said.

No date was provided for when the federal government began granting new commercial driver visas again after pausing them last August.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed the halt on new work visas following a spate of fatal crashes in Florida and other states involving foreign truckers.

On Aug. 21, Rubio issued a social media statement: “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.”

The crashes also provided an impetus to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s crackdown on non-domiciled commercial driver licenses issued improperly by many states and renewed enforcement of a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulation requiring English-language proficiency — a standard that generally hadn’t been enforced since 2016.

Duffy shook up many states’ practices and procedures for issuing these CDLs and commercial learner’s permits after he imposed a national ban on issuing these driving credentials and ordered an audit and a slew of corrective actions for numerous states found issuing illegal licenses.

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Duffy's Department of Transportation has taken an active approach to safety enforcement. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg)

This year, FMCSA imposed a final rule with more stringent requirements for issuing non-domiciled CDLs and CLPs. The harsher federal measure is expected to remove 194,000 noncitizen drivers, of whom 28,000 have already seen their CDLs permanently revoked.

The revised FMCSA regulations restrict eligibility for non-domiciled CDLs and CLPs, which are now subject to enhanced consular vetting. The rule also requires interagency screening of driver history records, which closes a safety gap because such screening had been required for U.S. citizens but not for non-domiciled foreign truckers.

Now the State Department has a narrower pool of candidates who will qualify for foreign trucker visas. Consular officers must assess applicants’ driving history, experience and licensing eligibility when reviewing H-2A, H-2B and E-2 visas.

“As part of this coordinated policy, the Department of State is thoroughly vetting and applying strict standards to every visa applicant seeking to operate a commercial truck in the United States,” the spokesperson said. “This includes ensuring applicants have sufficient English language skills, a valid U.S.-issued or U.S.-recognized CDL or the ability to obtain one, and a prior history of safe commercial truck operation.”

Under the previous regulations, states lacked access to either a driver’s historical record or concurrent driving record outside the United States. State driver licensing agencies also didn’t receive notifications of serious traffic violations that occurred in a foreign country during the validity of a non-domiciled CDL.