Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday announced the U.S. would stop granting visas for commercial truck drivers, citing an "increasing number of foreign drivers" in trucking that are "endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers."
"Effective immediately, the Department is pausing the processing of work visas for applicants seeking to operate commercial trucks in the United States in order to conduct a comprehensive and thorough review of screening and vetting protocols used to determine their qualifications for a U.S. visa," a state department spokesperson told Overdrive. "This pause applies to all nationalities, and is not directed at any specific country."
The State spokesperson said the "pause in visa processing applies to applicants seeking to operate commercial trucks in the H-2B, E-2, and EB-3 visa classifications."
The focus on safety and labor concerns mirrors what Overdrive readers said loudly and clearly in an April survey with more than 4,000 responses: A majority of American truck drivers object to foreign drivers' ability to obtain U.S. CDLs on safety and economic fairness grounds.
But Harjinder Singh, the driver whose illegal U-turn on the Florida turnpike killed three on August 12, wasn't in the U.S. with a visa, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
An Overdrive review of Department of Labor H-2B visa certifications found just more than one hundred granted to "commercial truck drivers" in the latest publicly available data, spanning three months of this year. Other trucking job titles, like Semi-Truck Driver or Over The Road Truck Driver similarly had only a few applications and certifications.
Compare that to the more than 60,000 non-domiciled CDLs, or CDLs states can issue to non-citizens with temporary work authorization, uncovered in Overdrive's review of all 50 states' CDL-issuance practices.
What about short-term B-1 visas, issued to drivers as they cross the border? In May of 2025, the U.S. issued more than 130,000 "border crossing cards," which is how the State Department refers to the B-1 visa.
As of Friday morning, those border crossing cards are still flowing, according to a source who works in cross-border freight.
California, where Singh got his CDL, does not require CDL applicants to produce any type of visa to apply for a license. California requires an I-94 form and an Employer Authorization Document, which is not a visa, to apply for a CDL. Washington, where Singh previously got a CDL, similarly does not require a visa.
Typically it's employers who apply for H-2B, E-2, and EB-3 visas for workers. Many non-domiciled CDL holders may have entered the country without a visa (potentially illegally, as the Department of Homeland Security has said was the case for Singh) and gotten their CDL from any of the 43 states that do issue CDLs to non-citizens with temporary work authorization.
Overdrive contacted a trucking company that had applied and certified 44 "Truck Driver" visa roles in January of 2025. That fleet owner said all 44 were Mexican citizens with Mexican CDLs working for a paving company in the Great Plains region.
"There are no drivers around here," the fleet owner said. "Nobody wants to work." His drivers work in a small, local area, and he said he ensures they follow all rules or get swiftly fired.
That fleet owner said "maybe 80%" of paving fleet employees were Mexicans in his area, and that without those workers, "no way we can build those roads."
The coming sugar beet and potato harvests, too, he said, would require Mexican drivers.
Responding to the news of Singh's deadly crash in Florida, the fleet owner said, "I totally understand the frustration, but the frustration started when the government gave CDLs to whoever."
CDL licensing actually happens at the state level, and visa issuance at the federal level. The feds pausing a few visa classes for employers in commercial truck driving won't stop states from issuing non-domiciled CDLs to people in the U.S. without a visa, or with short-term tourist or business visas.
Singh himself was ruled by a judge to have entered the U.S. illegally before claiming asylum, according to DHS. As of the end of fiscal year 2024, the U.S. had a backlog of 1.6 million cases of people who had been issued orders of removal claiming asylum.
Immigration Courts' Annual Case Receipts, FY1983-FY2024
The number of asylum seekers in the U.S. has risen rapidly in the last few years, and roughly tracks with the trend Overdrive observed in its review of all 50 states' CDL issuance practices, and that readers have reported from their on-highway experiences.
To download the full report, including actual numbers on the growing trend of non-domiciled CDL issuance in the U.S., fill out the form below.
