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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has published a public inspection final rule and issued a corresponding press release based on its formerly-issued interim final rule (IFR) published on September 29, 2025. As with the former IFR, this final rule restricts eligibility for non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits (CLPs) and commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) for foreign-domiciled individuals to holders of specific employment-based nonimmigrant statuses: H-2A (Temporary Agricultural Workers), H-2B (Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers), and E-2 (Treaty Investors).
The rule becomes effective 30 days after publication. The September 2025 IFR had been stayed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals since November 10, 2025 (Lujan, et al. v. FMCSA, No. 25-1215); this final rule is a separate regulatory action that supersedes the IFR and establishes the new controlling framework. The applicable emergency stay on the IFR would need to be reapplied to this final rule for the prior stay to remain in place.
Many of the same provisions of the former IFR remain in place through this final rule. The final rule:
- Restricts Eligibility: Limits non-domiciled CLP/CDL eligibility to individuals in H-2A, H-2B, or E-2 nonimmigrant statuses, individuals domiciled in a U.S. territory (under specified conditions), and individuals in decertified-program states.
- Eliminates EAD-Based Issuance: Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) are no longer accepted as valid documentation for non-domiciled CLP/CDL issuance.
- Requires Specific Documentation: Applicants must present an unexpired foreign passport and a Form I-94/I-94A with an unexpired Admit Until Date reflecting H-2A, H-2B, or E-2 status. SDLAs must query SAVE to confirm the applicant’s claimed status.
- Caps Credential Validity at One Year: Non-domiciled CLPs and CDLs may not be issued with a validity period longer than one year, regardless of the I-94 expiration date.
- Mandates In-Person Transactions: All non-domiciled CLP/CDL issuance (including amending, correcting, reprinting, reinstating, or otherwise duplicating), transfer, renewal, and upgrade must be conducted in person. No mail or electronic processing is permitted.
- Imposes Document Retention: SDLAs must retain copies of application documents for a minimum of two years.
- Requires Downgrade Upon Status Loss: SDLAs must initiate state procedures to downgrade a non-domiciled CLP/CDL upon notification from FMCSA, DHS, the State Department, or other federal agency that the holder no longer maintains eligible immigration status.
- Rescinds DACA Guidance: The final rule rescinds FMCSA’s 2023 guidance that permitted states to issue non-domiciled credentials to DACA recipients who are citizens of Mexico, and the subsequent extension of that posture to Canadian DACA recipients. DACA recipients are no longer eligible.
- Requires “Non-Domiciled” License Designation: States must display “non-domiciled” on the face of the credential. Alternative nomenclature such as “limited term” or “temporary” is no longer permitted, nor are restriction codes on the back of the credential.
Minor Changes from the September 2025 Interim Final Rule
While the final rule largely reaffirms the IFR, FMCSA has made several minor but operationally relevant revisions:
- I-94 Terminology Revised: The definition of evidence of lawful immigration status now requires “an unexpired Admit Until Date” on the I-94/I-94A, rather than “an unexpired Form I-94/I-94A.”
- One-Year Maximum Validity Clarified: New explicit language in § 383.73(f)(2)(iv) provides that a state must never issue a non-domiciled CLP or CDL with a validity period longer than one year. The IFR tied validity to the lesser of the I-94 date or one year; this revision adds a standalone prohibition to eliminate ambiguity.
- Reinstatement Added to Issuance Definition: “Reinstating” has been added to the parenthetical definition of “issuance” throughout the amended regulatory sections. Reinstatement transactions are subject to the same in-person, documentation, and verification requirements.
- In-Person Requirement Strengthened: The in-person transaction requirement now contains explicit language that mail and electronic processing is “not allowed.”
- Cross-Reference Correction: A typographical error in the IFR cross-referencing paragraph (1)(iii) of the evidence of lawful immigration status definition has been corrected to paragraph (1)(ii) in § 383.73(f)(5).
- Duplicative Provision Removed: Duplicative language in § 384.212(a)(1)(ii) regarding document verification has been removed and the subsection reorganized.
Operational Impacts
On pages 65-66, FMCSA clarifies that states are not required to proactively revoke properly issued non-domiciled credentials held by drivers under the prior rules. However, at the next licensing transaction following the effective date—including reissuance, transfer, renewal, or upgrade—the new eligibility standards must be applied.
On page 69, FMCSA states that “At the conclusion of the APR, if FMCSA makes a preliminary determination that a State does not meet one or more of the minimum standards for substantial compliance under Part 384, Subpart B, FMCSA notifies the State accordingly. A State has 30 calendar days to respond to the preliminary determination explaining the State’s corrective action or, alternatively, why FMCSA’s preliminary determination is incorrect. If FMCSA makes a final determination of substantial noncompliance, FMCSA may initiate the withholding of certain Federal-aid highway funds and may decertify the State’s CDL program.”
Page 71 of the final rule reinforces the need for state pause of non-domicile issuance and FMCSA approval prior to restart. “The agency’s stated corrective actions included but were not limited to: immediately pausing the issuance of all new, renewed, transferred, or upgraded non-domiciled CLPs and CDLs until FMCSA provided written confirmation that an SDLA’s corrective action plan was accepted and implemented.”