REAL ID Act Compliance Deadline Extended to 2019 [UPDATED]
The Department of Homeland Security has announced that the REAL ID Act’s implementation will be delayed until January 22, 2018. This Act sets enhanced requirements. Requirements that you must meet before obtaining a driver’s license or other state identification card.
The change primarily affects travelers from states that have not yet implement the Act. Anyone not in compliance will be a bar from using their driver’s licenses to pass through TSA checkpoints. This can be as early as this summer. If enforcement were to forward, travelers are must use passports or other forms of federal identification for domestic flights and enter other federal facilities.
REAL ID Act Extension States
| Non-Compliant | 2019 Extensions |
| Massachusetts | January 10, 2019* |
| Minnesota | March 01, 2019 |
| California | January 10, 2019* |
| Guam | January 10, 2019* |
| Virginia | January 10, 2019* |
| Minnesota | March 01, 2019 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | April 01, 2019 |
| Rhode Island | May 01, 2019 |
| Alaska | June 01, 2019 |
| Montana | June 01, 2019 |
| Illinois | June 01, 2019 |
| Kentucky | August 01, 2019 |
| Missouri | August 01, 2019 |
| Pennsylvania | August 01, 2019 |
| American Samoa | October 10, 2019 |
| New Jersey | October 10, 2019 |
| Maine | October 10, 2019 |
| Oklahoma | October 10, 2019 |
| Oregon | October 10, 2019 |
What Does the REAL ID Act Change?
The REAL ID Act sets enhanced standards for the issuance and production of government identification cards including state driver’s license. To be in compliance, states must take additional steps when verifying a recipient’s identity before they can get an identification card. Additionally, each identification card must contain advanced security features, such as holograms, to deter counterfeiting. In addition, a magnetic strip will contain information on the identification card and allow it to be machine-readable.
Who Does the REAL ID Act Affect?
The REAL ID Act is a federal law affecting federal facilities. When enforcement begins, a compliant ID is necessary to enter any federal facility that requires ID including TSA checkpoints, federal prisons, military bases, and other secure facilities. The REAL ID Act does not affect State facilities; however, states may impose similar restrictions on their own.
What if a State Doesn’t Comply With the REAL ID Act?
States are under no obligation to produce identification cards that comply with the REAL ID Act. The standards are only guidelines for what types of IDs are going to be valid in federal facilities.
Starting on January 22, 2018, travelers whose states do not follow REAL ID Act standards or who possess identification cards issued before their state was in compliance will need to produce a secondary form of identification in order to fly.
Starting on October 1, 2020, only identification cards that comply with the REAL ID Act will be acceptable. Residents of states who are not compliant with the Act and those who still possess older, non-compliant IDs will need to present a passport or other acceptable form of federal identification, or they can not travel.
