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Update, 4/24/25: TSA Real ID enforcement will begin on 5/7/25, though it will be phased in through 5/5/27.
During the 2 year phase-in period, travelers without a Real ID will “face delays, additional screening, and the possibility of not being allowed into the security checkpoint. This includes TSA PreCheck passengers.”
Real ID includes driver’s licenses with a star on them, or Enhanced Driver’s licenses that say Enhanced on them.
You can also use a passport from any country, a US passport card, trusted traveler cards such as Global Entry or NEXUS, or a Permanent Resident card.
If you have those documents, they can also be used for Real ID for up to 1 year after they expire.
Children under 18 will continue to be exempt from needing to show ID.
Do you have a Real ID for travel purposes?
Update, 9/12/24: DHS is proposing that the Real ID requirement be phased in, with full enforcement delayed to 5/5/27 as most Americans don’t have a Real ID and “because of the history of extensions related to REAL ID enforcement, DHS believes that the public may continue to expect that additional extensions are likely and not feel urgency to obtain a REAL ID. DHS believes this pattern is likely to delay increased adoption in many States despite best efforts to inform the public, potentially leading to last-minute surges in demand for REAL IDs leading up to the deadline.”
Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy!
HT: chff
Update, 12/5/22: DHS has announced that the Real ID requirement will now go into effect (allegedly) on 5/7/25.
Update, 4/27/21: DHS has announced that the Real ID requirement will now go into effect (allegedly) on 5/3/23.
Having an ID that proved residency was a 9/11 recommendation and was passed back in 2005, but has been delayed time and time again.
It was allegedly going to go into effect on 10/1/20, but it was pushed back “due to COVID” to 10/1/21.
Once again, the TSA has been warning us about upgrading to a compliant ID card in order to fly as of 10/1/21. You need to prove legal residency and proof of birthdate to get a Real ID.
A poster on the DansDeals Facebook group recently did the annual sharing of the article warning everyone to get a Real ID.
You can also just fly with a passport or Global Entry card if you don’t have a Real ID.
I debated with a TSA agent on the group about whether it would extended again:
And sure enough, the deadline will be extended again. A date hasn’t yet been announced.
Wake me up when a Real ID is actually required, if that ever happens.
HT: chff and Traveler718
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83 Comments On "Phased Real ID Enforcement Begins In 2 Weeks, Do You Have A Real ID?"
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If it does come into effect, how can us citizens living in Israel get one? Will there be online applications? Tia
You can use your passport
A Real ID will (eventually) be needed in the USA. To get here you will need your passport. Your passport obviates the need for a Real ID
Best option is to get a passport card.
It’s designed for land borders but will work for expats…
Get one next time you renew your passport
Passport card is not valid for international travel (other than Canada and maybe Mexico).
Global entry card also works for RealID. I use it regularly — fits in my wallet better than my passport does!
Don’t have a driver’s license?
Some prefer not to advertise their home address to every one asking for ID. US drivers licenses typically have a person’s primary residential address on them. Do we really want to make it any easier for the crooked to do home invasions while the traveler is away (or heading away) from home?
Good to know, just in case I don’t have my DL readily available.
Thanks. Didn’t know that. I got a passport card.
I was able to get it in NJ, literally a week before COVID shut everything down.
I got my NJ Real ID like 2 months ago. The NJ DMV has been open, and actually better— because it’s based on appointments made online.
I still want back the 5 hours I spent getting my wife my hers at coney island instead of going to the aquarium
for the future the express license office in midtown (145 W 30th St, New York, NY 10001) is the quickest and easiest license renewal place
Good! I’m happy it was pushed ahead. In NJ every few weeks multiple local DMVs are closed because of a Covid case.
This ID nonsense is just another way big government can control the sheeple.
Btw, is there any logical reason why the TSA still makes us take our shoes off before entering security? Does the average flyer even know where/when/why this practice originated? Did any of your viewers ever hear of the shlimazel Richard Reid? With all the advancements in technology happening every 5 seconds, the TSA still (20 years later) can’t tell whether we have some wires in our shoes without treating us like little children, and harassing us to remove our shoes?! This is all part of the beat down that our government enjoys doing to us. Control control control.
Here’s an idea:
Start your own country, have your own TSA (or not), and then you can make your own rules (or not).
USA is my county!
Don’t tread on me
Read a little about what america is about
exactly! plus, in yearly undercover test operations, TSA consistently fails to detect weapons in great majority of cases!
First your fresh smelling shoes and then freshwater salmon! Did you know Lidl redirected a freshwater salmon stream to run directly through a landlocked store to deliver the freshest fish at the lowest possible price?
If the TSA is so competent in detecting dangerous items why do they care who is flying. What is the real reason the want to know who we really are when we fly.
It will be pushed off until at least least 10/31/25 because the Biden administration is against requiring IDs for everything except entering the DNC convention.
Lol. Good point.
The “deadline” has been pushed off by the GW Bush Admin (that let REAL ID become law), the Obama Admin, the Trump Admin and now the Biden Admin.
You need an ID to get on a plane but not to vote.
Illinois is still way off having people have real id
That’s insane, why may 2023? It was delayed because of covid, is that the projection of when covid will end?
I just renewed my license at NY DMV, and upgraded to Enhanced ID,
If you are under 18 will u need real ID when it goes into affect?
No.
per Illinois sec of state “If the minor is traveling alone, he or she will need a REAL ID DL/ID to board a domestic flight on or after Oct. 1, 2021”
Illinois doesn’t have the legal authority to regulate interstate travel.
So if I’m under 18 and have a drivers learners permit I can fly without real ID on it?
It’s a moot point until at least 5/3/23.
Yes. You can also fly without ID by going through the “alternative” identification and screening method. But for minors, the alternative identification thing can get extra interesting.
What a joke
big government always is !
dan can you please tell us where your plans to go to this summer would love to know thank you
Israel.
I just recently upgraded to realID it was a big pain in the neck bc I didn’t bring the right papers. Twice.
All on a Friday had to get papers shuttled from my house .
When you go you need original birth certificate and passport ( or other forms of identity like utility bill )
It will not happen for a while as long as we are living in this cancel culture because the illegal aliens cannot get approved for the real id
Illegal aliens — much like irregular legal aliens and US-Israeli dual-citizens — can fly domestically using their foreign passports as ID.
I cannot get a real id because – my driver’s license and passport do not match.
NYS DMV said so. Driver’s license has a middle initial, passport does not. Birthdate, address, and photo are a perfect match.
The passport was issued in NYC in 1969, driver’s license in Maryland in 1976 (no universal rules or standards at that time). If I located and brought in to DMV the birth certificate, marriage license, divorce decree, and 2nd marriage license – the clerk would probably take a 2 hour bathroom break. And I am not sure that all of those documents are consistent for a middle name or initial. So I will need to pay to renew my passport until I am too old to fly.
Book an appointment at a AAA DMV. Much faster and smoother. Bring whatever ID and docs you have and hope for the best.
I’ve been trying to get a (non-renew) NJ real IS license and appointments are never available. Glad it’s being pushed off again
Can we get the TSA to reimburse those of us who spent the extra money for a real ID which will now expire before it becomes relevant?
Yes, the TSA is famous for being super easy to deal with and they would love to talk to you about giving you money
That is a very good thing because here in NJ it is nearly impossible to schedule an appointment to get the Real ID unless your license is about to expire (and you choose to walk in instead of renewing online). Or if you want to get it done at the DMV in Cape May or Vineland..
NJ is deep blue, so all state govt employees went to sleep for COVID and still haven’t woken up yet.
I was not able to use my expired passport to get the star. So I just renewed my passport online, so now I can use my passport to get the star. makes sense? Not to me…
So why does big government STILL dehumanize us by making us take our shoes off and get undressed every time we pass thru the TSA checkpoints???!
Wash, rinse, repeat
“Now goes into effect “ in May 2025? More like now scheduled to go into effect” in May 2025, subject to further delays as has been the case repeatedly since the GW Bush Administration.
Too bad no one has the guts to put an end to the government’s REAL ID nonsense and scrap it and the TSA’s counterproductive passenger ID checks.
I followed the link in the post update, but I don’t see a press release or reason for the new deadline extension.
Regardless of when this actually comes into effect and is enforced, there will be many, many Americans showing up at airports who will claim that they did not know about it.
Whenever it does go into effect, can I still use my costco card?
Wow!
Glad I didn’t pay NJ and extra $11 for a REAL ID lol
Maybe if they make it $12 cheaper than a regular licence then more people would get one.
Government at it’s best. It literally will more than 25 years from 9/11 for this to be implemented!
Wow Dan,
I knew you were great, but to predict that the DHS will give out this statement almost 2 years in advance (Dec/5/22) must be real prophecy.
LOL
Makes all sense. They haven’t figured out a workaround yet how to provide the illegal aliens with this ID because of the legal residency requirement. Imagine the illegals not able to vote democrat.
This is the issue, as demonstrated by the millions of illegal immigrants being invited into the country, including the hundreds of thousands that are being flown in so that the land border crossing numbers don’t look as bad as they are.
Dan, I’m surprised you don’t tell your crowd that “You can use your Global Entry card as a Real ID”. According to TSA, no need to make a Real ID license, just bring along your Global Entry card.
Check out the 4th item on the list: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification
Because it’s been a running joke for 2 decades and you don’t need anything?
Wake me up when it’s enforced.
I like a fool wasted time and $ to get a RID license. I did a little research before my wife’s renewal and just kept the standard license (she has GE)
The principal dude in Congress who wanted the REAL ID ACT made into law has been dead for years now and yet his nuisance law remains on the books and the creeping and creepy “security” surveillance state continues to support it while it keeps grooming the nation to just surrender to ubiquitous surveillance by and (directly or indirectly) on behalf of government actors.
As a regular passenger who flies about 80 international flights per year without my IDs being checked and lives to fly another day, I don’t fear the elimination of passenger ID checks by the government and a repeal of the REAL ID Act.
What is the point of needing to show ID to fly? Your anyways going through security.
I fail to see the problem with this.
Just more freedoms being stripped away under the guise of the security state
NY DMV will not issue me a Real ID – because my driver’s license has my middle initial and the passport does not, so they do not match.
They should either implement it with it’s current date or scrap it. The reason for the delay is ridiculous. People are not likely to get one until it’s actually enforced (either because they need to go to the DMV in person or because of extra costs) so how does continually delaying it help? There will be a surge in demand once it’s nearly implemented no matter what. This proposal is trying to avoid that surge but is actually only going to make it worse.
Just use your passport and forget this nonsense.
Still delayed?
Not worth trying to get an appointment and waiting on lines. Just use a passport.
I was told regular ID plus Global entry also works, is this true?
That’s what I wrote in the update.
So if I a have global entry card, then then don’t need my state ID card Whatsoever?
Correct.
Wouldn’t even need my reg ID ?
Correct
Just spent 2 hours at DMV for the real ID upgrade – they’re also taking new photos for some reason (even though my current license doesn’t expire for many years).
Prepare ALL docs and triple check everything before heading out. There’s a list of items, and plenty of folk yelling at the need to leave/lose their place in line and return another time for not having something (marriage license, someone brought passport + birth cert and not ONE of those + SS card, etc etc).
Good ol’ DMV – every stigma alive and well. Shameful.
For $30 more, you get the Enhanced – which basically allows you into Canada without a passport. Dunno if I’ll ever go there, but did it to have it ‘all’.
Canada is only by the border not by plane. I got the extra enhanced version Bec I thought it’ll be cool to have a color American flag on the license which they put on ny license.
@dan when it’s time to renew does it automatically renew as a real ID? I’m assuming yes.
No – you have to provide necessary information to prove you are a citizen in order to get an ID. Plenty of liberal states give illegals licenses — so when it is time to renew you will have to provide the necessary documents to get a Real ID.
Liberal states will continue to provide illegals licenses so all licenses going forward will NOT be REal IDs.
You currently do not need an ID to clear the TSA checkpoint. Does this law change that?
Yes you do – if you leave your ID at home the official answer is “you may be able to fly.” Usually you go through a proctology exam and they let you through. I suppose the same thing will happen, but if you’re an illegal holding a garbage license from a state that issues them to illegals – I don’t think that loop hole will work