Ukrainian-born truckers working in the United States say a sudden federal overhaul of non-domiciled commercial driver licensing has thrown their livelihoods into uncertainty, as fleets sort through who can stay behind the wheel and who can’t. The policy shift, detailed by FreightWaves, lands at a moment when many recent arrivals are work-authorized but not on the narrow visa types the government now accepts for a non-domiciled CDL.
The dispute moved sharply into the courts this week. On November 4, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) responded to a petition in the D.C. Circuit seeking to pause the rule, arguing it doesn’t need crash-risk studies tied to citizenship to tighten licensing because states can’t reliably verify 10 years of driving records for applicants domiciled abroad. Petitioners countered that many non-domiciled drivers — including DACA recipients and asylum seekers — do have U.S. driving histories, and urged judges to halt the rule in the near term. A ruling could come within weeks, shaping hiring and dispatch plans heading into peak shipping season.
What’s changed operationally is stark. Fresh legal guidance published November 4 says states must pause issuing or renewing non-domiciled CDLs and CLPs until they retool processes to meet new federal standards; Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) alone no longer qualify an applicant. Going forward, only drivers in specific employment-based categories — H‑2A, H‑2B or E‑2 — can receive non-domiciled credentials, with state agencies required to run SAVE immigration checks, cap validity at the I‑94 “admit until” date or one year (whichever is sooner), and require in‑person renewals. Carriers should expect downgrades if a driver’s status falls out of eligibility.
The lawsuit challenging the rule underscores who is most directly at risk. The case, Lujan v. FMCSA (No. 25‑1215), was filed by a DACA recipient, an asylum seeker, and two major unions (AFSCME and AFT), with Public Citizen as counsel — a coalition that illustrates how widely the policy ripples across immigrant driver cohorts and public-sector employers that depend on CDL holders.
Why it matters to trucking: for many fleets, especially smaller carriers that tapped Ukrainian and other work‑authorized immigrant drivers to cover long‑haul capacity since 2022, this is a workforce planning problem first and foremost. DOT’s own litigation filings and industry reporting peg the affected population near 200,000 non‑domiciled CDL holders — enough to pinch seat counts if even a fraction cannot renew. In court papers summarized Tuesday, DOT conceded it lacks comprehensive data linking non‑domiciled status to worse safety outcomes; instead the agency is basing the clampdown on credential integrity and the difficulty of auditing foreign driving histories to federal standards. That framing suggests relief via litigation could be narrow and targeted (for example, DACA), not broad-based — a key contingency for recruiters and dispatchers.
What carriers should do now: audit driver rosters for immigration category and renewal timelines; verify that SAVE checks and document retention expectations are built into your DMV interactions; and prepare dispatch plans for potential short-notice downgrades as states align to the rule. For Ukrainian drivers — many of whom are legally work‑authorized but not in H‑2A/H‑2B/E‑2 categories — the near-term priority is understanding whether their current status supports renewal or transfer and, if not, planning alternative roles or pathways with their employers. Those steps won’t decide the legal outcome, but they will determine who keeps trucks moving while the court weighs the rule.
Sources: FreightWaves, Overdrive, JD Supra, Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
This article was prepared exclusively for TruckStopInsider.com. Republishing is permitted only with proper credit and a link back to the original source.
