The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has granted a stay of the case challenging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s interim final rule requiring states to comply with new requirements for issuing CDLs and CLPs to persons not domiciled in the licensing state. The stay will hold the case in abeyance while the FMCSA works on a new rulemaking to implement the revised licensing requirements.

Previously, the court had issued a stay of the interim final rule on several grounds, which meant that the rule could not be enforced while the court case was under consideration. Now, the court has granted the government’s motion to hold the case in abeyance while the agency goes through a notice and comment rulemaking to correct the deficiencies in the interim final rule. As part of the rulemaking process, the FMCSA will be required to consult with the states on how to impose the licensing requirements on the driver applicants.

The FMCSA was also directed to file status reports with the court at 90-day intervals beginning March 3, 2026. Once the rule is finalized, the parties must submit motions to govern future proceedings in this case within 30 days of the completion of the agency proceedings.

FMCSA had previously threatened California, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania with loss of federal highway funds for failure to comply with CDL and CLP licensing standards for non-domiciled applicants.

In addition, FMCSA has found that New York State has routinely issued non-domiciled CDLs to foreign drivers illegally. FMCSA’s audit of New York’s non-domiciled CDL issuance practices found numerous failures by the state of New York including:  

• Out of 200 sampled records, 107 were issued in violation of federal law—a failure rate of over 53%. 

• The DMV’s systems defaulted to issuing 8-year licenses to foreign drivers for non-REAL ID licenses, regardless of when their legal status expired.

• New York issued commercial licenses to foreign drivers without providing any evidence that it had verified their current lawful presence in the United States.

FMCSA is now demanding that New York take the following corrective measures or face the loss of federal funding:

• Immediately pause the issuance of all new, renewed, transferred, or upgraded non-domiciled CDLs or commercial learner’s permits (CLPs).

• Conduct a comprehensive internal audit to identify every non-domiciled license that was issued in violation of federal regulations and the policies, practices, and procedures that allowed for the issuance of non-compliant licenses.

• Immediately revoke all unexpired, noncompliant licenses and remove unqualified drivers from the road.