Everything we consume arrives by boat, plane, truck, or van. And to keep the supply chain from breaking, there is a profession that AI cannot yet replace: the professional transporter and driver. But for years we have been at a point where driver shortages have created a bottleneck that is hard to untangle, especially if working conditions do not improve.
In Spain there are more than 20,000 truck drivers missing, but the problem is global: globally, about 3.5 million drivers are missing, of which 300,000 belong to Europe. Solution? The recruitment of foreign professionals.
Spain maintains exchange programs with 33 non-EU countries
According to data from the EFE agency, one of the solutions being considered is the recruitment of foreigners who hold a truck license (category C) or a bus license (category D). To make this possible, the DGT is speeding up the exchange of licenses: last year more than 15,500 were processed.
According to the data provided to EFE by the DGT, exchanges of category C and D driving licenses rose by 12% in 2025, from 13,903 in 2024 to 15,589, and Spain maintains exchange programs with 33 non-EU countries.And which countries are these professionals primarily coming from? First Peru (4,317 exchanges last year), followed by Morocco (2,248) and Colombia (1,206 last year).
And also from Turkey, where the situation in Spain is exactly the opposite: there is a surplus of drivers since more than 300,000 are unemployed. Therefore, an agreement has been established to bring these future professionals to Spain and train them in Córdoba.
The procedure can be completed online to speed things up, a novelty introduced by the DGT last year. It should be recalled that the mechanism of third-country license exchanges is recognized in EU law, and the licenses obtained through this route are valid for driving anywhere within the European Union and the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway).
A mechanism akin to regularizing immigrants aimed at filling the jobs with the most vacancies, often the ones with the toughest working conditions: waiters, bricklayers, workers in care homes, truck drivers, or doctors. The sector estimates it will need some 24,000 new drivers per year to offset the retirement pace of current staff.
Here, generational replacement, schedules, salaries, and work-life balance work against it.
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