Two decades after the passage of the Real ID Act, the law will take effect on Wednesday, May 7. It’s important to stay tuned and get to know all the new details. The law aims to increase government security, thus requiring extra documentation on citizenship, naturalization, or immigration status to be presented. On May 7, a person looking to enter a government building ot fly domestically with only their ID, rather than a passport, must have a Real ID. This deadline has led to a rush of applications and long lines at the DMV, leaving some to wonder if there is a way the process can be completed online to avoid such new and unkown situation. Read on to know all details and updated information.
How to know if the RealID is yours
Several states have been issuing RealIDs since 2017, and you may not even have being conscious that you were given one the last time you went to renew your license. At the begining, the government had been required by law to implement the recent restrictions back in 2019, but because of a slew of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, that deadline was pushed back to May 2025.
Moreover, in order to check if your ID is already a Real ID, verify if it has a star in the upper right corner. If so, you already have a Real ID. If you didn’t find it, you’ll have to renew it through your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
The states that permit you to apply for a RealID online
Looking to skip the line? There are other optiones aviable. For example, residents in California, New York, and Virginia can renew their driving licenses or identification cards online. Nevertheless, applicants must possess previously a RealID and can only request a renewal; first-time applicants cannot fill the process online. In other states, you normally need to visit an office in person. To know where is your nearest DMV office, get to the official DMV website’s locator tool.
Regardless of how you renew, you’ll need to provide the following information. Here is the list of the information that is requried:
- Full legal name
- Date of birth
- Social Security number
- Receipts proving your “primary residence” address
- Your legal status
“States may impose additional requirements, so stay tuned with your state’s driver’s licensing agency website, before visiting them in person, for additional guidance and assistance,” advises the Department of Homeland Security.
RealID frequent asked questions
Here are three questions that people often ask in order to obtain this document. They are also questions that clarify doubts that may not occur to you at first, but that you may have at some point.
Firstly, what happens when the REAL ID enforcement date begins. According to Federal agencies, including DHS and TSA, may only accept state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards as identification for purposes of accessing federal facilities – including TSA airport security checkpoints – if the license or card was issued by a REAL ID compliant state in accordance with the REAL ID security standards (meaning the license or card must include the REAL ID compliant star marking). Enhanced Driver’s Licenses (EDL) issued by Washington, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Vermont are considered acceptable alternatives to REAL ID-compliant cards and will also be accepted for official REAL ID purposes. Most EDLs do not contain the star marking and this is acceptable.
In second place, the other question is related to the fact of if all states are issuing REAL ID compliant cards? The answer is “yes”. All states, the District of Columbia, and the 5 territories are REAL ID compliant and issuing REAL ID compliant driver’s licenses and IDs.
Finally, is a passport the only other option? Well, it’s not. In fact, TSA accepts several other forms of identity documents. For more information on acceptable forms of identification for boarding aircraft, please visit TSA’s website at https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification. Starting May 7, 2025, every state and territory resident will need to present a REAL ID compliant license/ID, or another acceptable form of identification, for accessing federal facilities, entering nuclear power plants, and boarding commercial aircraft. The card, itself, must be REAL ID compliant unless the resident is using an alternative acceptable document such as a passport. The Act does not require individuals to present identification where it is not currently required to access a federal facility (such as to enter the public areas of the Smithsonian) nor does it prohibit an agency from accepting other forms of identity documents (such as a U.S. passport or passport card).
