Up to a point, it did seem like the railroad was going to rule America’s land shipment but there was an underdog. Roughly 200 years ago, the rise of the railroad seemed unstoppable; the freight industry could have as well been taken over by trains but the never-say-die spirit of truck drivers saved the day.
We are not focused on which mode of transport is better but over time we have realized that trucks seem America’s freight favorite. The success of the truck system and its survival is partly attributed to the resilience and devotion of truck drivers to the endeavor.
Today trucks are the undisputed champions of the American shipment system. One may wonder but how did trucks rise from a relatively humble beginning to rule the terrain? But once you realize that even today, truck drivers are migrating miles away leaving their home country behind to answer the call of duty behind American truck steering wheels then you recognize that truck drivers are bold, courageous, and daring.
Crafts with men and women like that can never die because once there’s one free truck anywhere, a truck driver will brave the tide to go man it. This has been the spirit that has advanced the American truck network. Today, conglomerates are making this daring journey of opportunity and passion easier for truck drivers by sponsoring their visas to the United States.
Understanding Visa sponsorship and how Truck drivers can utilize the opportunities it offers to migrate to the United States
With a focus on the migration of truck drivers from other countries to the United States, there must be a provision within the US immigration faculty on the possibility of such a move. The official provision in that regard is known as visa sponsorship. This takes us to digress a bit toward throwing more light on the meaning and implications of visa sponsorship.
Visa sponsorship refers to a visa type where two parties (the invitee and the invited) are willing to migrate the applicant to the United States where the invitee becomes the visa sponsor.
The class of visa sponsorship applicable in the case of migrating a truck driver is visa sponsorship for employment purposes. Apart from such employment-purpose visas, another common class of sponsorship visas is family member migration sponsorship. In the case of family migration, a family connection domiciled in the United States invites such relative to the country. Legally, such a family member is referred to as an alien relative in the US immigration provision.
To qualify to bring such an alien relative to the United States, the sponsor must be either a citizen or permanent resident. Before continuing to discuss truck driver migration through a sponsorship visa, here is a link to a detailed article where you can learn more about visa sponsorship.
Associated responsibilities for the migration of truck drivers into the United States
When considering a migration to the US under a truck driver employment sponsorship, obligations are involved. This applies to both the sponsor and the potential migrant truck driver. These responsibilities include:
Employer
- Legitimacy of enterprise and business practice: Enterprises hoping to migrate employed foreigners to the US must satisfy US provisions to run such enterprise. Such legitimate operations apply to the firm’s immigration record as well. In this case, the firm must have been operating under strict observation of immigration and labor provisions.
- Satisfy provisions regarding workforce migration: Employers are only eligible to migrate foreign workers which include truck drivers to the United States when no willing or capable resident or citizen is found to undertake such job. To navigate this aspect, the employer is expected to apply for foreign employee migration permission, allowing him to migrate the workforce from overseas.
- Support pledge: Truck driving is certainly a lucrative occupation however, a truck driver may not hit the road instantly upon arrival to the United States. At that stage where such migrants is having to adjust to the country and even before arrival. At all times until the migrant truck driver is settled in, the sponsor’s willingness to support such migrant is a legal responsibility.
- Verification of employees’ ability to deliver on commercial vehicle driving: The employer must ensure that the migrating driver possesses the right skills for a truck driver’s roadworthiness up to the US standard. Although the driver will certainly be issued new commercial vehicle driving documentation, earlier verification of the applicant’s ability to operate a commercial vehicle is crucial in determining the driver’s effectiveness.
Migrating driver’s responsibilities
Potential truck drivers hoping to migrate to the United States are expected to present the following as part of pursuing an employment-based sponsorship visa model. Such responsibilities include the provision of evidence of statehood, the ability to carry out employment purposes effectively, and the provision of vital immigration documentation. These migrating truck driver’s responsibilities include:
- Road-worthiness verification: Potential US truck driver is expected to provide evidence of truck driving know-how from the home country. Upon arrival in the United States, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration may screen potential truck drivers and issue a new commercial vehicle Driver’s license.
Provision of primary immigration documentation
As part of the immigration procedure, the applicant is expected to provide the following:
- Passport
- Home Country issued police character certification
- Photo Identification
- Language Proficiency proof (Command of English)
- Health clearance (lab result or vaccination certificate indicating potential migrant-free of target health condition)
- Documents of originality certification. Example: Birth Certificate
- Attained education or qualification proof
- Security clearance (if needed)
Duty Responsibilities: Upon migrating to the United States and taking up the truck driving job, the applicant is expected to observe some rules of safety and standard practice regarding US road safety, and standard commercial vehicle driving practices. Such duty responsibilities include a willingness to respect road safety regulations. Willingness to abide by the freight service provisions and genuine intention to respect other people and laws of the United States
Benefits
- Highly Lucrative: To determine the financial benefit a truck driver may enjoy, one needs to examine it from a balanced perspective. The salary structure and other benefits a truck driver may receive may depend on several factors like employer, experience, and dedication. On average, truck drivers earn about $1400 weekly.
- Mobility: While trucks may not have the speed of a Ferrari or secure easy parking space, it can still get you going.
- All paid trips: When you are a truck driver, gas purchases will be of secondary concern because your journey gas will come along the line.
- Control: Your duty time as a truck driver will have you behind the wheel being not just a freethinker but one driving your life. The truck driver job has a taking charge to it.
- Insurance: One thing both the big and small players in the haulage industry in most cases have in common is a culture of insurance. The haulage business is a lot safer today but it wasn’t always that way, years of insurance have contributed to the sector’s stability, and that now seems a sustained tradition.
- Tips: Another amazing side of the truck driving job is the high chances of appreciation bestowed upon drivers, especially after moments of excellent delivery services.
- Timing flexibility: The roads are unpredictable thereby giving drivers enough explanation for any minutes spent on personal fancy. These extra minutes of expected corps’ pullover that luckily didn’t happen translate to enough personal time for drivers that treasure timing.
- Adventure: This doesn’t need many stories; truck driving can be an interesting venture, watching the sun rise and fall, clouds turn to rain, passing hilly sides and the streams running into the river, then stopping briefly along thick vegetation and overhearing the birds’ bicker and their melodies. Truck driving can be all of these and more.
Steps to Securing Truck Driver Job Remotely
In several cases, potential truck drivers may have to gain employment while still in their home country. This can happen using these channels:
- Job Hunting on Social Media: Our world is undoubtedly more connected today, with such connections comes remote reach. The United States has had the internet playing a crucial role in society. This includes job search and employment. The number of people who now book truck services online is on the rise. Haulage firms are also using the Internet to reach their potential employees.
Since average Americans use the internet to book truck services, finding and joining social media groups and pages for truck service rendering will enable you to discover truck holding firms and reach out to them via their pages or other profiles for vacancy inquiries.
- Other Outreach Platforms: Apart from social media, there are other significant channels that you can use to reach your potential employer. Several employers in the United States engage the services of international job recruiters or even recruit directly from their websites, you can reach such recruiters by performing web searches on job vacancies for truck drivers.
Some firms still patronize local publishers for job vacancy advertisements. With most local media houses now present on the internet, job seekers can find online copies of local papers where they can find employment opportunities and apply remotely.
Truck Driver hiring enterprises with Visa sponsorship
Behind these haulage conglomerates are small to medium scale truck holding enterprises which are the real deal regarding truck drivers’ employment and migration to the US.
This is us saying that, Apart from these few firms listed here, there are several other haulage enterprises in the United States needing migrant drivers, you only need to find these other enterprises and reach out to them. In the meantime, let’s present some haulage firms with sponsorship records.
- Hub Group: Providing haulage services across the United States can present a competition for truck drivers. Often the best truck drivers are already engaged. As a haulage giant, Hub Group makes for such an experienced driver shortage in the US by looking for capable drivers elsewhere.
- TFI International: With international presence and partnerships, this logistics firm is open to its workforce coming from any background. Their willingness to assist such potential migrant truck drivers through the immigration process remains unchanged.
- FedEx Corp: FedEx Corp is one of the firms topping the chain of the American logistics industry. To sustain such leadership, the corporation has emerged as the standard of what the American haulage industry represents. This firm remains one of the highest employers of foreign truck drivers.
- Argos Corporation: Although not originally a US firm, being a Colombian firm with operations in the US makes it even more migrant-friendly as there comes the need to migrate their workforce sometimes, and while this is happening, it opens opportunities for citizens of other countries to benefit from their sponsorship.
You may think that all the demands of truck drivers in the US are from haulage firms. Well, this cement manufacturer needs its products distributed nationwide. Trucks remain the preferred distribution model for cement. Argos Corporation is supportive of their truck drivers processing their US migration sponsorship.
Let’s Talk Visa and US Migration
Now that you may already know how you may secure a job in the US as a truck driver, let’s look at what type of visa you may need for your migration.
While there are diverse visa options for visa sponsorship, the class most likely to be suitable for the migration of truck drivers is the H-2B. While what lies ahead if you leave your country behind and head to the US remains unknown, your migration model is best designated as a temporal non-agricultural motivated one.
Migrating with this visa class is recommended for truck drivers because apart from not requiring advanced education, it makes securing jobs in sectors with occasional spikes in employee demand easier. Looking at the purpose of this visa model, one may realize it is the appropriate option for truck driver migration.
This visa decision is however not one that we can advise on without some reservations as there could be special cases where truck drivers may require other categories of visas. It is important that to avoid ambiguities, you may consult with experts or research further on the affairs of US immigration for further clarification.
Conclusion
Seeing distance from the eyes of a truck driver can make the world a large and slow space but one that can be traversed. Truck drivers are people of focus, dedication, and patience.
The road into the US is very similar to the Road you will be driving on in the US. Both are usually long journeys but at the end and in-between are the answers to your desires as a passionate truck driver. Let your passion be your driver this time.