FMCSA grants non-domiciled CDL exemption for Freely Associated States citizens

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) granted an exemption request permitting the issuance of non-domiciled business driver’s licenses (CDLs) to sure citizens of Freely Associated States (FAS).

On May 14, FMCSA announced it might partially grant and partially deny an exemption utility from the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT).

FMCSA awarded a five-year exemption that may enable all State Driver’s Licensing Agencies (SDLAs) to challenge a non-domiciled CDL or business learner’s allow (CLP) to citizens of Freely Associated States (FAS) who reside within the United States and who’ve a sound, unexpired passport issued by an FAS and a Form I-94 or I-94A.

FAS citizens embrace people from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

The FMCSA opted to disclaim HDOT’s request that the FAS citizens be granted an ordinary CDL as a substitute of a non-domiciled CDL.

FMCSA’s May 14 motion will supersede a 2024 exemption granted to the Oregon Department of Transportation permitting the state to challenge customary CLPs and CDLs to FAS citizens with a sound, unexpired passport and an I-94or I-94A type.

Under the Compacts of Free Association, FAS citizens maintain distinctive citizenship standing as a result of function of the FAS in supporting the United States safety presence within the Pacific Islands area. FAS citizens are permitted to affix the US navy and may work and reside within the United States as authorized nonimmigrants with out acquiring a visa.

“FMCSA concludes that granting the exemption… is likely to achieve a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the level of safety that would be achieved absent the exemption,” the company mentioned.