March 6, 2026
Sacramento — Effective Friday, March 6, 2026, the federal government is requiring the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to cancel approximately 13,000 non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDL). Not all non-domiciled CDL holders are affected by this action and all those affected had already received notice from DMV that their licenses are subject to cancellation.
Non-domiciled individuals are those who do not have citizenship or lawful permanent resident status, and includes holders of various visas, refugees, and asylees. Federal law permits these individuals to obtain a CDL. Contrary to misleading statements by the Trump Administration, all the individuals issued non-domiciled CDLs by the DMV had been granted work authorization by the federal government and were legally present in the United States at the time their license was issued.
While a recent court ruling now allows affected individuals to submit a new CDL application, the federal government is barring the DMV from processing these applications currently. Given that the DMV is compliant with state and federal law, it is incumbent upon the federal government to allow the DMV to process those applications and issue licenses to eligible drivers.
In order to continue driving passenger vehicles or light duty trucks, affected drivers must obtain a new Class C California driver’s license.
“This federal administration is using their war on immigration to remove qualified, hardworking commercial drivers from our workforce who meet language and safety rules,” said DMV Director Steve Gordon. “There are no guarantees that additional solutions will become available to help these drivers and their employers but, in the meantime, there are immediate actions they must take to get a Class C license to be able to drive regular cars.”
