Real ID requirement set to begin in 2025

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Scripps News

Posted at 9:18 AM, May 08, 2024


If you are getting your license or ID renewed in the next year, consider bringing extra documents with you.

Starting May 7, 2025, Real IDs will be required instead of standard licenses or IDs to fly on nearly all domestic commercial flights. The program was set to begin in May 2023, but was delayed 24 months.

Congress passed the Real ID requirement in 2005. Currently, a standard state-issued ID or driver's license is all that is required to board a domestic flight. But that will soon change.

To obtain a real ID, you will need the following documents when getting a state-issued driver's license or ID: full legal name; date of birth (generally a birth certificate); Social Security number; two proofs of address of principal residence (like a utility bill); and lawful status.

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/real-id-requirement-set-to-begin-in-2025

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. I need to get mine before the Election.

I have what I need to get it done.

I also have a valid Passport, which I plan to renew in 2026. I find using that to fly works just as well.

[iluvtennis]

22. Agree - use my passport to fly. n/t

[LisaM]

41. Do you have a passport card?

I have a real ID but I love my little passport card. Very handy as an extra piece of wallet ID.

[demosincebirth]

2. I got mine when I renewed my lic. last year

[lapfog_1]

3. I went paperless years ago regarding all bills

and recently my cell phone bill was changed to a family plan because my sister is getting to that point where she forgets things... so I pay the bill but the plan and bill are in her name because she had a better plan than I did.

Damn.

I guess I will see if I can get paper bills from Internet. Utilities are all paid for by my landlord. Electric, trash, water, etc.


don't have car payments ( paid off ). I do have a couple of streaming service subscriptions... I guess I could write them and ask that they switch to paper billing.

All of this in the name of security. I call it "everything BUT security" and "security theater".

BTW I once had a security clearance from the feds and worked at places that had what I call "real security". So if they wanted to know who I am... any bio-metric scan will verify me instantly.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. I expect those streaming services have receipts for sub billing that can be printed

And I think your current driver's license can serve as an "address" verifier along with a rent invoice, as well as a valid passport.

[lapfog_1]

12. don't have a passport.. and really I am a digital nomad

[BumRushDaShow]

15. If you have a bank account

they would normally have your address (even if the statements/account info are all online).

[IbogaProject]

23. Utility bill

If you pay gas or electric you can print it out if that is easy. Health care statements might count. I think a bank statement would work too.

[lapfog_1]

24. don't pay for any utilities

my backup mifi... I will switch it to paper and have it snail mailed to me... and my bank statement

[Old Crank]

73. Check with your State DMV

They will have what you need listed to bring for the ID.
Ca would like you to presend the stuff electronically and tehn it takes less time at the offices.

[Zeitghost]

84. I downloaded and printed bank statements and bills online

To prove my residency. We live on a ranch owned by a family business, so not much is in my personal name. Car insurance, cell phone bill and car registration all worked just fine for proof of residency.

[Farmer-Rick]

4. I don't get it

When I got my driver's license in TN, I had to provide all those documents and information and that was 22 years ago......

So what's the difference now?

[Igel]

9. Depends on the state.

Most states implemented this years ago. I moved to TX in 2004 and my first license here bore the "Real ID" Imprimatur.

The law's from 2005, but it keeps getting delayed because of people who scream about cost, fascism and social justice. (Then they often claim we need national standards. This is a national ID standard. Do they like national standards or not ... or does it depend on what their goal is, so it's power as principle?)

I'm pretty sure my NYS ID was also Real-ID ready.

Problem is, with current falsification tech, the little symbol means little to nothing. And with the level of "solidarity-based" corruption I've seen at the DMV, I have to accept that it costs the clerk nothing to lie when inputting information. Has s/he seen the birth certificate? Sure. Now he can vote. If only the patron spoke English and didn't say he was from ______ country and only in the US for the last 6 months and his ID was fake ... but that wasn't said in English. Next line, "Do you want to register to vote?"

Maybe I witnessed the only example of this in the whole of Texas for the last 20 years. Maybe not.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. The license MUST have special security features on it

with special symbols and hologram thingies, etc.



I got mine here in PA in 2019 and the card looks like this -

[speak easy]

5. In other words, you need a passport to travel betwwen States (by air).

[AZLD4Candidate]

14. Apparently. Thankfully I have one. This is just insane.

[Martin68]

29. No. Just a standard, fraud-proof ID. What's the big deal? We've had ours for years.

This is;'t new, and it isn't government overreach. Take a deep breath and catch up a little.

[speak easy]

39. What is the difference between real ID

and the info you need, and have stored, in a passport?

[AllyCat]

54. Nothing. But a passport costs a lot of money for some.

Real ID requires extra measures to obtain that some of modest means and resources will find difficult to obtain.

I don’t care if we need a national standard. What I object to is all the hoops that are always more expensive and difficult for the poor.

[speak easy]

68. Next up: Real ID to vote?

[Martin68]

82. I always have shown my driver's license when I vote. It is required. This is no different. Get a grip, people.

It insures no one steal my vote pretending to be me.

[RazorbackExpat]

95. I already need one to vote absentee

In my case, it's a scan or photocopy of my passport

[Mr. Mustard 2023]

78. Nah, no big deal...

...just more "show your official papers" to travel around the U.S. Try getting birth certificates from some states. Good luck.

If you don't have your "official papers" you cannot fly on an airplane. No big deal.

In addition, there are no problems flying. No terrorism. It's another solution to a problem that doesn't exist to further divide us against them. Those without official papers are "less capable" or "terrorists"!

No big deal. More money and requirements forced upon Americans of whom many live on fixed incomes and cannot drive. No big deal, we don't want terrorists on airplanes!

Better have your official papers if the Deadbeat Republicon Trump is reelected because he and his MAGA Republicons, you know the "Good Christians" WILL use a lack of official papers as suspicious.

I mean who's going to work for free if we cannot label people "the other so subhuman" anymore. Oh, those who don't have official papers are clearly out to do us harm, so round them up and put them to work.

[Martin68]

83. The process was easy, inexpensive, and carefree. It is just a fraud-proof driver's license.

When you drive a car you are already required to carry your ID and registration. What's the big deal? Do you object to carrying a driver's license? What's all this nonsense about "official papers?" Ya'll sound totally paranoid.

[claudette]

52. Yes

Unless you get the Real driver’s license or Real non-driver ID

[bucolic_frolic]

6. There's a cost involved, isn't there? Like $85?

[jimfields33]

8. There always has been a cost getting a drivers license

No difference.

[pnwmom]

21. The difference is that many of us already have a license, and we'll have to spend

more to get one before what would have been our expiration date.

And I don't know what the license will cost here, but I just had to spend $55 to get a copy of my marriage certificate, which I'll need in order to apply --- along with my birth certificate, which I might have to order, too.

[Rebl2]

32. Women have

to show marriage certificate? That’s ridiculous.

[pnwmom]

36. Only women who changed their names at marriage. nt

[LeftInTX]

44. I didn't need to show a marriage certificate. I changed my name.

I've been married almost 40 years however.

Maybe if you're recently married and not all of your documents reflect your name change????

[snpsmom]

55. Birth certs don't reflect name change n/t

[LeftInTX]

57. I know, but I bought my BC, DL, and my Passport etc. They didn't ask for a marriage certificate.

My BC was required and I needed another form of ID.

[iluvtennis]

25. Real ID costs more than standard license. n/t

[Martin68]

28. How much more? How long is it good for? I've had one for years now. No big deal.

[LeftInTX]

45. Mine cost the same and it renews the same.

[iluvtennis]

85. I just recall in California when I last renewed my DL

7/8 years ago that Real ID DL cost more than none Real ID. As I have always had a passport, I opted for the regular DL as it was cheaper and I could fly with my passport ID.

Maybe cost is the same now as Real ID has now before the norm

[AllyCat]

56. There is a difference. We are required to have ID for most things.

It should not cost to get it. The documents to get it should also be free.

Charge for passports. But a state issued ID should not cost anyone to get.

[Grins]

30. I think you are thinking..

…cost for a passport, or a TSA-Pre clearance. Both are about $85.

[bucolic_frolic]

63. Here in PA the one-time cost is $30. ./nt

[Old Crank]

75. GOV.US

says passport renewal is $130. and card is $30.

[NanaCat]

79. Cost for a regular passport is $130

New or renewal.

First-time applicants must also pay a $35 'execution' fee, for a total of $165.

The card is $30, plus a $35 application fee for first-time applicants if they aren't getting the regular passport, too.

[TxGuitar]

71. It is the cost to renew your DL

In TX it is 32. Real ID has been on our DL's since 2016- and since you have to renew every 8 years- it should be pretty much automatic for Texans to either already have a Real ID DL or it will be when they renew this year. No big deal.

[bucolic_frolic]

72. Here they tack on an additional one-time fee

$30 last time I looked. DMV fees for licenses and registrations have risen faster than the DeJoy yardstick. What was $24 is $52. My mechanic complains of the same thing for Inspection Stickers. And we see it. What was $2 is $10. Like they say, just take all your money and send it in.

[Caribbeans]

7. Meanwhile in San Diego County...

To obtain a real ID, you will need the following documents when getting a state-issued driver's license or ID: full legal name; date of birth (generally a birth certificate); Social Security number; two proofs of address of principal residence (like a utility bill); and lawful status.

"ID for ME but NONE for THEE" - what a joke

[rockfordfile]

86. That's messed up

Hopefully they arrest all those illegals. In that one vid there are cars already waiting for them..

[AZLD4Candidate]

13. Unreal. This was a reaction to 9/11. How is requiring all this going to make us safer? More restrictions on American

citizens. I guess I'll just use my passport to get on flights from now on.

Why not supply a fingerprint clearance check, blood sample, urine sample (can't have druggies driving), a recent breathalyzer result, notice of inclusion on God's A-list, literacy test results, invoke a grandfather clause and require your grandfather to be there (even if you are a grandfather), and a notarized letter from a religious official showing you have not committed any moral turpitude?

It's so much easier to buy a gun than it is to renew your driver's license now. And of course, all of the fees with go up too with no regard as to if someone can pay or afford it.

BTW, a social security number, in the law passed during FDR, is NOT supposed to be used as an ID number.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. "I guess I'll just use my passport to get on flights from now on."

You can get a "passport card". The last time I renewed my passport, I got one of those cards and it was just $35 more onto the passport fee. That was before I got my Real ID driver's license here in PA because the state hadn't finalized how they were going to implement it (they originally refused to IIRC).

WAY better than carrying around a passport for something like this!

[AZLD4Candidate]

17. I still travel overseas alot.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. I know

But if you wanted something "smaller" (DL size), then you can at least not have to drag around a passport and it is supposedly good for travel to some countries (I think at least Canada and Mexico and possibly the Caribbean).

[2naSalit]

66. You might want to...

Cover that PII.

I just flew, domestically, last month and used my passport ID card instead of my DL because my state hasn't, or didn't, have realID when I last renewed my license.

As a long term resident, here, you can get your license for eight years before you need to renew. Mine is due later this year so I think I'll be getting a realID this time around. If not, I'll use the passport card instead, not that I travel much.

[BumRushDaShow]

90. That is a "sample" one from one of those "expediter" services websites

https://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/

https://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/passport-card.html

I always thought the passport card seemed like a good compromise for those who travel infrequently (but may have a need or desire to travel to reciprocal countries that accept that) and don't drive. I got my passport card when I renewed my passport mainly because at the time, PA hadn't finalized their RealID process (they finally did a couple years later and I got one then). I didn't want to carry around a passport if I had to fly (although before I retired, I did have a federal PIV card, which had my biometrics stuff encoded on the chip and that was always accepted as an official government ID, because it was one).

[2naSalit]

91. OK...

I was wondering how you wouldn't know to hide PII.

[BumRushDaShow]

93. LOL

Although I know it happens, sometimes by accident, but I don't think many business sites actually post "real/valid" identification examples. Most at least try to put "sample" and/or will use a generic/random number sequence for the actual numbers.

[róisín_dubh]

47. You do realise a lot of states have had this option for years...

and you're being ridiculously dramatic.
I got a Real ID when I moved to West Virginia- not a paragon of liberalism- in 2013. I've renewed it twice, both online (and from abroad, I might add).

[AZLD4Candidate]

70. That's good for you. I have problems with creeping authoritarianism

Before 9/11 and before that rights destroying PATRIOT Act, this wouldn't have happened.

Whether or not they had this option doesn't change the fact that, and let me make this abundantly clear, no one should need a special ID to fly anywhere. Right to travel is part of the 9th amendment and no government should have the power to say "sorry, this government sponsored ID is not good enough."

It's bad enough the 4th amendment has all been suspended in airports (as I was told in LAX by a TSA flunkie as he smugly and angrily told me the fourth amendment doesn't apply here), but now we need 80 or so forms of ID just to get one.

This is all because of 9/11. It doesn't matter they have had lots of time. I've known about this idiocy from the beginning and have hated it since it passed.

Why not just do what authoritarian China does and require a national ID card? I guess the 10th amendment is now dead too.

Don't give me interstate commerce. Getting an ID and setting up the requirements are state rights under the 10th amendment.

Overly dramatic? How many more of our "rights" are we going to allow to be chipped away? We've destroyed the 4th, 9th, and 10th due to 9/11.

We suspended the 1st under COVID.

After living in countries where you have no rights at all, I am a militant civil libertarian. Maybe others accept government attempts at authoritarian control, but I do not.

I love the dismissive "well I did it so you shouldn't have a problem" or "well, that never happened to me" attitudes people have.

[slightlv]

19. I think this is absolutely unnecessary!

And it's a lot more than what's listed in the OP if you're a woman.

I tried to get the Real ID last time I got my DL renewed. The hangup for me was all the tracing of my "status" as married, divorced, remarried. I didn't hear any of the men who said they were divorced asked to bring so many documents proving their marital status over the years. And let me tell you... I raised a ruckus about it right there in that little DL office when the first guy said I'm remarried, and no long list of requirements came from the person behind the desk. I called it flat out what i saw it as -- discrimination against me, as a woman.

Beyond the hassle of all the paperwork, this Real ID thing is just setting up another standard by which you will or won't be able to vote, especially if you're female. Mark my words... you can see the handwriting on the wall with this, especially as more male reps are in the news declaring the 19th amendment should be made null and void, because women shouldn't be allowed to vote.

ARGH! There goes my blood pressure again!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

43. Not changing your name at marriage is the key.

When I got married in 1980 and did not change my name, I was a bit of an oddity. Didn't quite get it. Why change your name? Or why should only women change the name?

In 25 years of marriage, raising two children, and having a different last name from my husband, once and only once was the different last name an issue. Here's what happened: We had dinner at a restaurant, he left his credit card behind. When he realized that, he called the restaurant, yes, they had the card, and he said he'd send his wife (me) to pick it up. When I got there, they of course wanted to see ID, and of course mine read "Poindexter Oglethorpe", not "Poindexter Hislastname". Well, of course they didn't want to give me his credit card, and I wasn't about to try to push it. I didn't want them casually giving away left-behind credit cards to just anyone. But wait! I realized that I had our joint checkbook with me. And there it was: Poindexter Oglethrope, Llewellyn Hislastname, our address, which matched the one on my drivers license. Hooray! Enough points of connection to take home the credit card.

So, anyway, I've never understood why women change their surnames at marriage.

[AllyCat]

59. For exactly the reasons you state, I wish I hadn't changed mine

Love Mr AC. But every time there is a benefits check at work, all the women who changed their names have extra documentation to buy from the state and produce.

The supporting documents should be FREE. But it always costs more.

My opinion: changing your name at marriage is a mistake.

[C Moon]

20. So until then, I can still use my fake ID?

[Martin68]

26. This was an announced years ago, and that's when we got our Real Ids. Isn't anyone paying attention?

[róisín_dubh]

48. No, much better than to act like a bunch of freaked out lunatics

As I wrote in response to someone else, I got mine when I changed states in 2013. Like, when I moved to West freakin' Virginia, liberal bastion that state is.
It was the same process as getting any other drivers license, if I recall (though possibly a bit more documentation since I was moving into the state).
People need to get a friggin' grip already.

[BumRushDaShow]

58. The law passed in 2005 and a number of states refused to comply (including PA)

and there were all kinds of lawsuits.

So even if someone wanted one in their state over these many years, if their state refused to implement the program or had delays in doing so, then that person was SOL, and were told they would need something like a passport for ID to fly once the law was "officially" in effect (federal and military IDs may have been eligible too).

So here we are today after another extension done in 2023.

[CousinIT]

92. Yes I got my realID in 2016. n/t

[cstanleytech]

27. I'm willing to wager that this law supported by Republicans because they plan to use it to make it harder to vote.

After all if you make getting an ID harder to get it makes putting other voting roadblocks in place soooo much easier.

[jimfields33]

34. It was quit bipartisan. Heck the senate was unanimous.

However, the Real ID Act was reinserted in the conference report on H.R. 1268 that was then passed by the House on May 5, 2005, by a 368–58 vote, and unanimously by the Senate on May 10, 2005.

[cstanleytech]

46. Yes, I know but do you think the Republicans supported it to help America or to help themselves?

[BumRushDaShow]

62. If it was on a Conference Report, then this was part of a reconciliation bill

and at that time in the 109th Congress, the GOP controlled both chambers (House and Senate) and the White House.

The following year in 2006, Democrats took the House back for the first time since 1994, heralding the era of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A "unanimous" Senate was most likely due to the bill there being done by "unanimous consent" and no Democrat bothered to show up to object, as there may have been something else in there (D)s wanted.

[Rebl2]

31. My problem is

none of my utility bills are in my name-in husband’s name. My car insurance billing does have my name on it. Wonder if that is good enough? Another problem is our bills go to our PO BOX, not our house address.

[BumRushDaShow]

65. I just looked at the PA requirements (which I think are probably national) and auto insurance was included as eligible

[NanaCat]

80. SIgh

Most of these forms will ask for your residential address if your mailing address doesn't match. They know PO Boxes are a common thing for people who prefer not to get mail at their residence.

Really.

I'm a PO Box holder as well, and that has never caused any problems with government forms.

[Girard442]

33. Well, all of these ID requirements are a small price to pay to keep crooks like von Shitzinpantz out of the WH.

Oh. Wait.

[dflprincess]

35. And, if you're using your birth certificate and your current name does not match that

be sure bring proof of the name change (like a marriage certificate). If you've been married more than once, it's best to bring both marriage certificates and divorce papers (if necessary). When I was getting mine there was a woman there who had two sets of marriage & divorce documents with her.

It never ceases to annoy me that it's easier to get a passport than this goofy "real ID". You would think that would be enough.

[LeftInTX]

49. I was married almost 40 years and changed my name. I did not need to bring a marriage certificate etc.

I just showed up with my BC and passport.

[dflprincess]

74. Perhaps the woman I saw didn't have a passport?

Years before the real Id stuff my mom let her driver's license lapse. I finally got to get a state ID card and she had to bring both her birth and marriage certificates (for her it had been more than 50 years). Some entertainment when the very young clerk didn't want to accept the marriage certificate because it didn't show what name she'd be using. A more experienced clerk pointed out it had the county seal on it and was dated 1946 as she said "there was no choice about the name".

[AllyCat]

60. Passport is enough.

Many have the passport book which is not easily carried in a wallet. Real ID is the size of your DL.

[hunter]

37. Won't change anything. The terrorists will have Real ID too.

I'm not going to get one for my Drivers License. I'll throw a passport in my daypack if I fly.

[Always Blue]

38. Papers

Better have your papers. America is turning into Nazi Germany. None of this and the rest of the Patriot Act would not change what happened. That law just put onerous requirements on American citizens. None of it will be a problem for the deep pockets Saudi Arabia royal family. Why are American citizens being targeted? That act needs to be repealed.

[calimary]

42. Welcome to DU, Always Blue!

Oy... not looking forward to having to go get my new Real ID. My current license is good til 2026.

Shit - it's always something!

[Elessar Zappa]

87. Nazi Germany?

Democrats supported the bill too.

[usonian]

40. I'm all set.

Nick.

[Auggie]

50. Got mine February 2020 ...

just before the shit hit the fan.

I felt it would be inevitable and just wanted it over.

[claudette]

51. However

You can still use your passport as ID on flights if you don’t have the Real license

[AllyCat]

53. In Wisconsin, we had to have the actual SS card!

They wouldn’t even take our already valid passports. I save everything and actually had SS cards for me and the kids. But how many people have lost them?

[BumRushDaShow]

64. Here in PA we needed the SS card (or some government form like W2 that listed it)

I had my SS card from when I was 12 years old after my dad had died (he was a federal worker who also had SS that we were eligible for at the time as survivors before Raygun messed with that, and my mom applied for us kids at that time). I laughed with the DMV guy about how my 12-year old SS card signature in no way matched my current one.

[questionseverything]

61. How do you prove " lawful status " ?

[twodogsbarking]

67. You have my SS records back to 1964 when I was 12. WTF?

[former9thward]

69. They have been saying this for almost 20 years.

It always gets postponed and it will be postponed again.

[rzemanfl]

77. +1.

I did get the star on my license, though. I had to get a new copy of my birth certificate. They apparently think I have been a sleeper agent since 1947, when I slipped into the country through a vagina. Fiendishly clever.

[Old Crank]

76. I think a big issue for postponement

is from teh Airline and tourist people.

If you don't fly anywhere in country you have no need for the new ID. There are a good number of people who don't travel much and don't fly at all. There is also a good number of people who are completely oblivious to the need and will be until they want to fly somewhere. The last I read, some years ago, the uptake of the real ID was under 50% in CA.

I live in Europe now and I always have to use a passport to fly, rent a car, get a hotel room. My CA DL expires before the deadline. I'm not sure if I will renew it as I am over 70 and may have to go in in person. But I won't be getting a real ID becasue I have no real address.

[NanaCat]

81. I use my DD-214

And tell any nitpicking idiots to take it up with Uncle Sam if that's not good enough.

[EJRocketMan]

88. It is a Big Deal.....

for someone like me who was given up at birth and never legally adopted. My biological mother gave me to someone in the family and all she wrote was a brief letter stating she was giving me to my parents and it was notarized.
So my birth certificate has a last name I have never used. I was baptized with my parents last name. Everything is either in my maiden name or married name.
I just don't have anything with the last name shown on my birth certificate. I've lived and worked in this country my whole life and feel this is so unfair. This has been stressing me out for years now because I don't have the proof needed to get a Real ID.

[LeftInTX]

89. Contact your congressional rep. Even a Repuke will help you.

I'm sure there are plenty of people in similar situations.

[EJRocketMan]

94. Good idea

Thanks