Paper medical cards still count through October 11, 2026. After that, do not bet the truck on a photocopy

What the notice actually said

This exemption exists because electronic posting to state driver licensing agencies did not go perfectly on day one. That is a boring, useful sentence. It is also why a carrier who treats October 12, 2026 as “still paper forever” will learn the lesson at the scale instead of in a bulletin.

The April 10, 2026 notice runs from April 11 through October 11, 2026. For those six months, a paper MCSA-5876 can still prove medical certification for up to 60 days after the examiner issues it. Interstate CDL holders, CLP holders, and motor carriers are named. The 60 days are counted from the issue date, during the exemption period — not 60 days of folklore after the window closes.

FMCSA still wants examiners to issue the paper certificate plus the electronic upload until further notice. Two copies during transition is the design. The paper is a bridge for the weeks when the DMV record has not caught up. It is not a second permanent system of record.

After October 11, 2026, the agency says it does not expect another national NRII exemption. Plan on the electronic record. Keep the digital-certification page next to this one so the upgrade and the bridge do not get argued as contradictions.

A temporary exemption is a time-limited permission to deviate from a rule. When it expires, the underlying integration rule is what the officer is supposed to use. Photocopy optimism is not a compliance program.

What it changes on Monday

If a PRIDEUSA driver has a fresh exam, we want electronic posting and the paper in the book until the exemption ends. We will not dispatch on a story about “the clinic’s portal was down” without a dated certificate we can show. We also will not treat a 90-day-old photocopy as if the 60-day proof period still applies.

Monday’s start date can wait a day for a real exam. A live load cannot wait on a missing card and a missing upload. Safety owns that call. If you are the driver, call before you sit at a shipper with a story. If you are the shipper, you get a late or a cover — not a medical seminar on the BOL.

Read this with the NRII digital note. The learning center is at nationalregistry.fmcsa.dot.gov. Our recruiting file still asks for a current certification; the exemption changes how we prove it for a few months, not whether we require it.

Owner-operators leasing on get the same two-copy instruction. The truck does not roll on a screenshot. See owner-operator terms if that is your arrangement.

What we will — and will not — do

We will carry paper and electronic proof through October 11, 2026, and we will treat the 60-day clock as a real clock. We will not dispatch on folklore about a portal, and we will not pretend the exemption silently renewed.

We will not make a driver sit for a second physical just to satisfy a recruiter’s nerves if the certified exam is current and posted — or paper-valid inside the window. We will make the truck sit if neither proof exists.

If the state record is wrong, start with the examiner and the DMV, then call safety at +1 (847) 702-8181 before we dispatch. We would rather fix the file in Lake Bluff than at a scale.