Overdrive reporting reveals at least 60,000 active non-domiciled CDLs

After months of fact-finding and correspondence with 50 state governments, Overdrive has for the first time in history revealed the true story of the rise of non-domiciled commercial driver's license (CDL) issuance in the United States.

A new, 20-page downloadable report offers an accounting of every state’s issuance of non-domiciled CDLs, including a rough count of how many actually exist.

A few key findings: 

• Evidence shows more than 60,000 non-domiciled CDLs issued, many clustered in seven states.
• 32 states offered data on non-domiciled CDL issuance and trends.
• Seven states definitively don’t issue non-domiciled CDLs.
• 11 states do issue non-domiciled CDLs, but don’t track the volume of licenses issued.
• Looking back over 10 years, the trend shows an increasing number of non-domiciled CDLs, likewise their share of total CDLs issued.

Readers can download the full report via the module at the bottom of this story. The research followed Overdrive reader reports over the past year of increasing encounters with CDL drivers domiciled in other countries yet working hauling freight on U.S. roads. Those included more than 4,000 readers who responded to a Spring 2025 survey. The U.S. government had taken notice, too, beginning with an executive order from President Trump in April that directed an official review of states' issuance practices for non-domiciled CDLs, which states can grant to non-citizens in the country with temporary work authorization. 

As detailed in the report, a spokesperson for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration cast the goal of its own recently announced, ongoing attempt at a review as an effort “to prevent the exploitation of foreign labor and protect the integrity of commercial driver licenses. ... FMCSA’s review will identify and eliminate patterns of abuse and help ensure all states are following federal regulations so that only qualified, properly documented drivers are getting behind the wheel of a truck.”

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Overdrive asked every state in the country a few simple questions.

1. Does your state issue non-domiciled CDLs?
2. If so, how many non-domiciled CDLs has it issued every year for the last 10 years?
3. How many regular CDLs has it issued over the same period?

With responses from almost every state, the report represents a massive undertaking and the fruit of nearly a dozen Freedom of Information Act (or state equivalent) requests. Download the report below to access "The Rise of Non-Domiciled CDL issuance in the United States" and its detailed accounting with granular data from nearly every state's licensing body.