After years of delays, the updated and enhanced security driver’s licenses were set to take effect in May of next year. Now the government has decided to give travelers an additional two years to obtain the new document.
The federal government of the United States has once again postponed the requirement for an updated identification document for travelers boarding flights, giving states more time to issue the so-called “REAL IDs” to their residents. The new identification requirements were expected to take effect in early May 2023, but the deadline has now been pushed back to May 7, 2025.
The “REAL ID Act” is a measure taken after September 11, which requires domestic travelers to show Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents an updated and enhanced security driver’s license or some other federally approved identification document (such as a passport) to board flights.
When the law finally goes into effect, a state driver’s license that does not contain the “Real ID” seal will no longer be accepted at security checkpoints at airports across the country.
The U.S. Congress passed the “REAL ID Act” in 2005 after discovering that nearly all the hijackers who boarded commercial planes on September 11, 2001, carried U.S. driver’s licenses and state IDs, and that most of these documents were obtained fraudulently.
The new rule, which establishes minimum standards for driver’s licenses and other types of identification cards, was initially planned to take effect in 2008 but has been extended several times.
So why was the deadline extended this time?
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which manages the REAL ID program, blamed the latest extension in part on the “persistent impacts” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the agency, over the past two years, progress toward implementing the new rule has been “significantly hampered.” During the height of the pandemic, for example, many state agencies automatically extended the expiration dates of driver’s licenses and IDs and shifted operations to serve only by appointment.
How to obtain a REAL ID?
The DHS advises those who have not yet obtained the REAL ID to “visit the local Department of Motor Vehicles website to find out what documentation the state is requiring to issue the new document.
The minimum required will be:
• Complete name
• Date of Birth
• Social Security Number
• Two proofs of address
• Proof of legal status