How "Shortage" Rhetoric Fuels a Worldwide Workforce Pipeline
From Kenya to Canada, Australia to Germany, The Global Human Labor Import Machine is How States and Corporations Built a Systematic International Labor Pipeline While Avoiding the Real Problem
The September 2025 Nebraska-Kenya labor mobility agreement didn't emerge in a vacuum. It's the latest public face of a vast, interconnected system of international workforce importation that's been operating for decades, sometimes quietly, sometimes openly, but always justified by the same recycled narrative of critical shortages that data consistently contradicts.
While Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen announced that Kenyan truck drivers would soon fill "skilled truck driving positions" across the United States, similar deals, programs, and pipelines have been running from every corner of the globe. This isn't about emergency responses to sudden crises. This is about a systematic approach to importing workers while avoiding the harder work of addressing why American workers keep walking away from these jobs.
The Corporate Recruitment Networks
The 60-Country Pipeline, Houston-based Visa Solutions has been operating recruitment offices in Mexico, Poland, South Africa, and the Philippines for twelve years. The company estimates it brought 1,600 truckers from as many as 60 different countries to the United States in 2019 alone. With only the "top 1% of workers" accepted, they work through an approval process that can take 14 months while maintaining relationships with about 30 trucking companies.
A&M Transport of Oregon exemplifies how this works. Despite exhaustive domestic recruitment efforts, driving schools, job fairs, newspapers, radio, social media, and military veteran hiring initiatives, they turned to Visa Solutions to import drivers from Mexico, with 13 more waiting for federal approval.
Acadian Ambulance. The Australian Healthcare Highway Acadian's "Aussie Medic Program" represents the gold standard of international labor importation. Operating across Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi, they bring Australian paramedics to work in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, New Orleans, and Memphis. The company pays for visa processing, provides round-trip airfare, covers bridging courses and testing, and offers career advancement, everything they could do for American workers but choose to do for foreign ones instead.
The program includes partnerships with Australian universities for supervised clinical placements, with Acadian covering EMT training modules. Students can complete rotations in Texas and Louisiana, creating a seamless pipeline from Australian education to American employment.
The Federal and State Machine
The J-1 Exchange Visitor Program, administered by the U.S. Department of State, has evolved into a sophisticated labor import mechanism masquerading as a cultural exchange program. Organizations like Spirit Cultural Exchange, Cultural Vistas, and dozens of others facilitate what amounts to temporary worker placement under the banner of international understanding.
These programs bring in workers for "training" and "cultural exchange" across multiple industries, with transportation and logistics companies increasingly using J-1 visas for drivers who allegedly provide fresh "global perspectives" to American workplaces.
H-2B and EB-3. The Legal Pathways Immigration law firms like Jeelani Law Firm actively market H-2B temporary visas and EB-3 permanent residence programs specifically for truck drivers. The H-2B process takes 5-8 months and allows drivers to work for up to four years, while EB-3 provides a path to permanent residency in 12-24 months.
These aren't really emergency measures, they're established business models. Law firms advertise that employers must prove they cannot find American workers, which they frame as "something that can very easily be shown for most of our trucking company clients."
The TN Visa Loophole Under NAFTA/USMCA, Canadian and Mexican citizens can work in the U.S. through TN professional visas. While truck driving doesn't fit traditional professional categories, immigration consultants actively market ways to make drivers qualify under classifications like "Scientific Technician/Technologist."
The Refugee and Resettlement Networks
Minnesota's Multi-Agency Approach is wild…are there even any Americans left in MN? The Minnesota State Commercial Driver Academy partners with an extensive network: Ujamaa Place, Volunteers in Corrections, Dakota County Jail, Ramsey County Corrections, Department of Corrections, Twin Cities RISE, CareerForce, Workforce Development Incorporated, Goodwill Easter Seals, Free Writers, Twin Cities Adult Education Alliance, CLUES, Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans, and the Teamsters.
This isn't a single program, this is a comprehensive infrastructure designed to channel refugees and immigrants into commercial driving careers.
Wisconsin's $1.6 Million Federal Investment. Fox Valley Technical College received over $1.6 million in federal funding specifically for specialized truck driver training targeting Somali and Afghan refugees through the "Hidden Talent Project" from the Bay Area Workforce Development Board.
Texas Global Impact Initiative. In Austin, the Global Impact Initiative targets refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine with CDL training programs. They report 100% success rates for participants who receive additional support, leveraging the fact that "many refugees have large vehicle driving experience working for the U.S. government in their home country, primarily driving Humvees and ambulances."
The Government-to-Government Deals
Germany's 400,000 Visa Expansion. Germany announced plans to issue 400,000 work visas in 2025, specifically targeting transportation workers among other critical shortages. With over 70,000 HGV driver vacancies alone, Germany has established fast-track licensing pathways and a "Opportunity Card" points-based system to streamline the integration of foreign workers.
Canada's Express Entry Integration. Transport truck drivers were added to Canada's Express Entry Federal Skilled Worker program in 2022. The Canadian Trucking Alliance pushed for this change, with provinces like Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia creating Provincial Nominee Programs specifically prioritizing truck drivers.
Canada's Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) system allows employers to hire foreign drivers for up to four years, with clear pathways to permanent residency. This represents a systematic approach to replacing retiring Canadian drivers with international workers.
The UK's Failed Experiment. The UK's 2021 emergency visa scheme offers a cautionary tale. Offering 5,000 temporary visas for HGV drivers, they received only 127 initial applications. Industry experts called it a program "designed to fail,” too short-term and restrictive to attract qualified drivers who would have to disrupt their lives for temporary work.
The failure isn't about missing workers who can't be found at any price. It's about working conditions and compensation that make jobs unattractive to available workers.
The Numbers Don't Mean What You Think They Mean
Ice cream sales increase in the summer.
Shark attacks increase in the summer at the same rate.
Neither of which has anything to do with the other.
The 2019 BLS comprehensive study by economists Stephen V. Burks and Kristen Monaco concluded definitively: "the trucking labor market is not different. It is not broken." They found "no evidence of a mysterious missing pool of workers who cannot be found at any price."
Data vs. Drama
Over 400,000 commercial driver's licenses are issued annually in the United States, enough to cover retirements and normal workforce exits.
The number of truck drivers has remained relatively stable over the past decade.
More than 3.54 million truck drivers work in America today.
Median wages have risen from $47,000 in 2021 to $54,320 in 2023
As FreightWaves reported, "Every year, more than 400,000 commercial driver's licenses are issued in the United States. That alone covers retirements and normal workforce exits."
The core issue isn't recruitment, it's retention. Drivers "come in, get licensed, and leave when promises do not match reality. Fleets replace them again and again." The American Trucking Association has been claiming shortages since the 1980s.
The Training Mill System
Entry Level Driver Training and Quantity Over Quality. Federal ELDT requirements standardized the curriculum but set no minimum training duration. This created a two-tier system, some schools teach "professionalism, critical thinking in traffic, and real-world trip planning." In contrast, others operate as "CDL mills that focus on passing the test rather than mastering the craft."
Undertrained drivers struggle with hours of service management, backing in tight urban docks, winter driving, trip time estimation, map reading, and defensive driving. When they burn out and leave, companies blame shortages rather than inadequate preparation.
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act grants flow through American Job Centers, funding CDL training for displaced workers, low-income individuals, and targeted populations. These federal programs often prioritize speed and numbers over comprehensive training, feeding the churn that perpetuates claimed shortages.
The Agricultural Model Goes Trucking
The H-2A agricultural program brings in over 200,000 temporary farmworkers annually, mostly from Mexico. Mexican farmworkers earn $1.59 per hour at home but can make $19.75 per hour in California, a wage arbitrage that ensures a steady worker supply while suppressing domestic wage expectations.
The trucking industry is following the agriculture playbook: claim labor shortages, lobby for visa programs, and import workers from countries where wage expectations are dramatically lower.
Originally planned to commence in December 1995, NAFTA's cross-border trucking provisions have created normalized labor mobility for decades. The recent pause on foreign truck driver work visas by Secretary of State Marco Rubio reveals the contradictions: states actively recruit foreign drivers through official agreements while federal policy restricts visa programs.
The Trump Administration Contradictions
Rubio's announcement that the U.S. would pause work visas for commercial truck drivers came after a fatal crash involving a driver who had allegedly entered the country illegally. The pause affects H-2B, E-2, and EB-3 visa categories but exempts Mexican and Canadian drivers operating under B-1 visitor status.
This creates a policy contradiction: states like Nebraska are actively recruiting foreign drivers through official agreements while federal immigration policy restricts the same programs.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's enforcement of existing English proficiency requirements could "sideline 40,000 to 60,000 interstate CDL holders," according to FreightWaves. Yet this enforcement happens simultaneously with state-level agreements to import drivers from countries with significantly different language and training standards.
The Cost of Looking Overseas
The resources dedicated to international recruitment, visa processing, legal navigation, and worker integration could transform domestic training and working conditions. Instead of 14-month visa approval processes, companies could invest in:
Comprehensive paid training programs lasting months rather than weeks
Guaranteed detention pay and reasonable scheduling
Equipment maintenance that eliminates breakdowns and delays
Facilities that provide basic dignity, parking, restrooms, showers
Benefits packages that make trucking a career rather than a temporary stop
Companies claim they cannot afford to improve conditions or increase pay, yet they pay immigration law firms, processing fees, visa costs, international recruitment overhead, and integration expenses. Acadian Ambulance pays for Australian workers' visas, round-trip airfare, housing, bridging courses, and career development, precisely the investment they could make in American workers.
The Death by a Thousand Cuts
The current system didn't happen overnight. It's the result of decades of choosing international recruitment over domestic investment:
Every J-1 "cultural exchange" program that became a labor pipeline
Every H-2B program justified by "temporary" shortages that became permanent
Every state workforce development partnership that prioritized foreign workers
Every EB-3 petition that avoided addressing retention problems
Every TN visa that circumvented professional category requirements
Every refugee program that filled positions instead of fixing them
The Nebraska-Kenya deal represents the normalization of what was once done quietly. States now openly compete to attract foreign workers rather than invest in their own residents' careers.
Call It What It Is
As International Transport Workers' Federation General Secretary Stephen Cotton noted: "Trucking jobs must be good, safe jobs, where workers' human rights and dignity are protected, where they can make a decent living and drive safely while being confident that they will have adequate time to spend with family and loved ones."
The solutions aren't mysterious:
End unpaid detention time that steals drivers' earnings
Replace miles-only pay with hourly compensation for all work time
Fix scheduling that breaks down drivers' health and family relationships
Invest in comprehensive training that prepares drivers for real-world challenges
Provide facilities and treatment that respect drivers' professionalism
As FreightWaves concluded: "Stop recycling myths about shortages and call the problem what it is. Retention. Stop framing visas as the answer to an oversupplied market and address training and job design."
The workforce exists. Over 400,000 new CDLs are issued annually. The trucking industry employs more people today than ever before. There's no mysterious missing pool of workers.
What exists is a shortage of desirable jobs, consistent training, safety, and accountability. International labor importation, whether through Nebraska-Kenya agreements, Australian paramedic pipelines, Somali refugee programs, or Mexican visa schemes, doesn't address the fundamental problems driving American workers away. It perpetuates them.
The knife at our industry's throat isn't a driver shortage. It's a business model that finds importing workers easier than investing in the ones already here. And until we're honest about that choice, the thousand cuts will continue, one international labor agreement at a time.