Any Foreign Drivers here? Need Help!
 

I am american and my wife is Russian. We have been planning to be Team Drivers and are all set to get it going. We are in Russia now selling our company and will return home to the US in a couple weeks. We were told today, by one carrier, that since I lived out of the country for 1.5 years, I need to have that country, Russia, give proof that I am not a criminal here and have no motor vehicle violations or accidents!!!

It's RUSSIA!! You speed, you pay 100 roubles ($4) to the cop and he sends you on your way and buys his wife McDonalds!! There are NO tickets.... everyone pays the bribe. I did not drive here anyway, so there is no record of me having a Russian DL..

And, since I am not a resident, there is no way to get any proof that I am not a criminal!!

If you're foreign born and a USA Commercial Driver, can you please reply and let me know if you had this same hurdle to jump? My wife said she could just pay the local police to write a letter for her, but they would not be able to do it for me as I was never registered as a resident.

Please let me know if you've had this problem. Maybe the carrier is wrong?? I live in MN and they told me my wife has only to prove she is allowed to live and work in the US and they will let her get her CDL.

Thanks for any tips!!

Jon

But if you committed a crime...there woiuld be some record of that. What about asking the Russian Consulate General? I'm sure they can refer you to the Agency willing to take your money, in exchange for a Criminal History report.

Sure you can bribe them for anything here, but thats not the question. I wanted to know if this recruiter was wrong and after a quick call to the MN DOT, it appears she IS wrong.

I was told in MN that any citizen or foreigner with permission to live/work in the US can have a CDL A with HazMat even, if they pass the fingerprint check.

So.... might be looking at other carriers!

Any foreign born drivers here?

Thanks!

You could also try contacting the American embassy in Russia. They may be able to help with this matter.

Howdy yall. :P Im from Texas,does that count? They say,Texas,its like a whole nother country. :P

Uh,edit......I was just being silly. Didnt mean to hijack,or offend anyone. :)

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...c27d83f71d.gif I think they have it worked out...but don't listen to me...I misunderstood MN once already. :?

Texas....at least there is a place where you can work a $50 bribe all the way up to a $5.00. :P

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...dayPresent.jpg

Is it hijackin' when your're trying to help, by "bumping" the thread back to the top? http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l236/Leland10/umm.gif

My post may be causing MN a cultural shock right now :shock: ...(forgot how bad the USA has become) This might make Russia look a whole lot better. http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...d10/Barney.gif..........sorry....but in the last 1 1/2 years....America ....has been going to hell....you ain't seen nothin' yet. :lol:

:shock: :P :lol: That aint right. :P

I got it figured out. It appears to be Schneider, not DOT. Schneider recruiter now emailed back after i told her MN DOT's view, and she said it is a DOT AND Schneider rule. So... after calling DOT in D.C., they said "it must be Schneider only rule". Dot only requires that a foreigner be allowed to live/work in the US. I guess since to legally get to the US and be allowed to work there, since you have to go through a pretty good check, including now finger prints, that must be enough.

I ran into sort of the same problem over here recruiting. I had a cuban driver one time who actually had two years driving exp in the US. Problem was that 2 years ago he escaped from cuba on a raft. I couldnt hire him because he couldnt provide a criminal record from cuba. Funny thing was that even if somehow I could have gotten a criminal record for cuba, he would have been listed as a felon for leaving Cuba.
As far as it being a Company or DOT rule, you are right....Its a company rule. The reason this is, is because of liability reasons. Large companies have to protect themselves. Face it we live in a time where people sue for anything. If a company "accidently"or purposely hired a person with a known criminal or drug record and later on that driver gets high and kills someone or perhaps that driver commits another crime in a truck....The court case would go like this.
Lawyer: You mean you hired this person and he had a known criminal history?
Company: Yes, We thought we would be nice and give the guy a break.
Judge to the company: Just hand them over a blank check, they will fill in whatever numbers they want.

is it fair? of course not, it sucks. But thats just the way things are.