The U.S. Department of Transportation's latest move in the ongoing saga of nondomiciled commercial driver's licenses has sparked a new legal challenge, as a coalition of labor unions and individual drivers files a petition for review with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case, Jorge Lujan et al. v. FMCSA et al., No. 26-1032, challenges the rule's legality and requests judicial review of the agency's action.
The filing marks the latest chapter in an ongoing legal dispute that began in late 2025, when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published its emergency interim final rule addressing non-domiciled CDL screening standards. This interim rule was paused by the D.C. Circuit in November while the court reviewed claims that the agency had bypassed standard notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures.
The newly published final rule incorporates many of the same restrictions contained in the interim measure, which limits nondomiciled CDL eligibility to individuals holding specific nonimmigrant visa classifications — H-2A (temporary agricultural workers), H-2B (temporary nonagricultural workers), and E-2 (treaty investors). This change eliminates employment authorization documents (EADs) as sufficient proof of eligibility and requires applicants to present an unexpired foreign passport along with designated Form I-94 documentation.
The FMCSA states that the rule aims to address what it characterized as oversight gaps in verifying foreign driving histories. According to the agency's published explanation, domestic CDL applicants are subject to checks through the Commercial Driver's License Information System (CDLIS) and the Problem Driver Pointer System (PDPS), while nondomiciled applicants previously did not undergo equivalent screening of foreign driving records.
The agency asserted that this discrepancy potentially shielded serious violations or crash histories that occurred outside U.S. databases. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy defended the rule in a public statement accompanying the final action, stating that the administration intended to close what it described as a safety loophole involving foreign driver licensing standards.
The legal petition filed Thursday argues that the final rule remains legally flawed. Petitioners contend the agency exceeded its authority and failed to properly adhere to administrative rulemaking procedures. They are asking the D.C. Circuit to review and ultimately vacate the rule.
The court has not yet issued a response to the new petition, and no briefing schedule has been publicly announced as of this writing. The regulatory changes follow months of heightened federal attention on nondomiciled CDLs, which have intersected transportation policy, immigration law, administrative procedure, and highway safety oversight.
The agency also cited concerns following a fatal crash in Florida in August 2025 involving a commercial driver who authorities reported was not lawfully authorized to operate in the United States. This incident intensified federal review of certain state-level licensing practices and prompted threats to withhold federal highway funding from states deemed noncompliant with revised standards.
The petitioners, however, argue that the rule improperly narrows eligibility categories and may conflict with existing federal immigration statutes governing employment authorization.
Whether the court ultimately upholds or strikes down the new restrictions, the legal back-and-forth over non-domiciled CDLs appears set to continue. The final rule remains published, and its implementation timeline will depend on any subsequent court orders or injunctions issued in response to the petition.
