U.S. pause on visa requirements may affect Ontario truckers

The U.S. is pausing the issuance of work visas for foreign truck drivers, which may have an impact on the way Canadians do business.

Secretary of State Mark Rubio made the announcement today in response to growing concerns south of the border that operators of commercial vehicles from outside the country are putting Americans at risk.

The concern is that those who arrive in the U.S. on work visas are not properly trained to drive trucks, cannot understand the road signs because of language barriers, and are taking jobs away from Americans.

The move also follows a recent incident in Florida where an arrival from India made an illegal U-turn with his truck, which caused the death of three people. Outraged American truckers say that Harjinder Singh could not read English or identify most road signs when he was tested.

Canadian citizens who are commercial truck drivers currently do not need a visa to enter the U.S. for temporary business purposes. However, many truckers now operating out of Canada are citizens of other countries and do not have English as a first language, both factors which may pose problems at the border.

“The U.S. government hasn’t been clear on how this pause will affect those in Canada who are classified as foreign workers or have other non-Canadian status,” said a member of the American Trucking Associations (ATA). “This is all brand new information, so we are still trying to digest it to figure out what it means and the implications.”

The ATA representative, who did not want his name used for this article because he was not speaking in an official capacity, said the government’s “pause” was clearly aimed at those who seek U.S. visas to operate stateside, but he stressed the same qualification issues have been raised over Canadian and Mexican drivers.

“We have concerns about truckers coming in from Mexico and Canada who don’t read English and don’t have the proper training to handle these big rigs (trucks),” he said. “It’s well known that there are a lot of truckers in Canada who shouldn’t be allowed on the road.”

The source pointed to an investigation carried out by the CBC’s Marketplace last year that found that “the system for testing truck drivers in Ontario has been compromised by bribes, forged documents, and rigged testing.”

“Everybody in the industry (in the U.S.) has seen that report,” said the ATA source. “It didn’t go unnoticed.”

The Ontario Trucking Association could not be reached for comment.

More information on how this latest move by the administration of President Donald Trump will play out is expected in the days ahead.

Effective immediately we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers.

The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) August 21, 2025