REAL ID Deadline Extended Again

(KNSI) — If you still need to get a REAL ID, the Department of Homeland Security says don’t panic as it has extended the deadline again for two more years.

After several previous postponements, the REAL ID enforcement deadline is May 7th, 2025. Starting that day, every traveler over the age of 18 will need a REAL ID compliant driver’s license, ID card, state-issued enhanced driver’s license, or another TSA-acceptable form of identification at airport security checkpoints for domestic air travel such as a passport, trusted traveler card, permanent resident ID card, or Veteran Health Identification Card.

According to a news release on the DHS website, the extension is necessary, in part, to address the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ability to obtain a REAL ID driver’s license or identification card. REAL ID progress over the past two years has been significantly hindered by state driver’s licensing agencies having to work through the backlogs created by the pandemic. The most recent deadline was May 3rd, 2023.

Passed by Congress in 2005 following a 9/11 Commission recommendation, the REAL ID Act establishes minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. Several states, including Minnesota, initially refused to implement them, saying it would do more harm than good and threaten individual privacy.

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