Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, FMCSA NEWS—Truck drivers with non-domiciled CDLs under additional restrictions, (Feb 23, 2026)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

Now, not only is English proficiency required, but drivers are only allowed to take CDL tests in English.

In the past few months, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has taken several actions impacting truck drivers with commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) and the companies that train them. Most recently, the agency has finalized a rule to prevent what it calls “unqualified foreign drivers” from obtaining non-domiciled CDLs, with new measures that include requiring CDL tests be administered in English.

Other actions taken. Since May of last year the Trump administration’s DOT has, among other things: instituted new English-language proficiency requirements; audited states issuing non-domiciled CDLs; threatened the loss of federal funding for states that failed to comply with the new English proficiency requirements; enhanced vetting of Electronic Logging Devices; threatened funding for states that failed to revoke “illegally issued non-domiciled CDLs” to certain drivers; performed over 1,400 onsite investigations of CDL schools, finding more than 550 were “failing to meet safety standards”; and conducted over 8,200 inspections as part of Operation SafeDRIVE. The administration has placed over 700 drivers out of service, 500 of which were for English language proficiency “violations,” along with pulling over 1,200 vehicles off the road.

According to reports, many states continue to allow drivers to take their licensing tests in languages other than English, even though they are required to be proficient in English. Now the Department of Transportation is prohibiting that practice as well—requiring that testing for CDLs only be done in English. The DOT also indicates that it will revoke licenses from individuals who fail the English proficiency tests, rather than only putting them out-of-service.

These actions, the agency notes, have been taken as a result of President Trump’s Executive Order placing a “renewed focus on roadway safety,” as well as the EO he signed in March 2025 purporting to designate English as the official language of the United States. Since September, the agency has claimed, its nationwide audit has resulted in exposing systemic non-compliance in issuing non-domiciled CDLs across several states—including New York, California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Colorado, and North Carolina.

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