Everything Travelers Need to Know About the REAL ID Act

In September, we heard the Department of Homeland Security would begin to enforce the Real ID Act for air travel in 2016, which would require secondary identification for licenses issued by four USA states.

The Jan. 22, 2018 deadline means that Washington residents will need a state enhanced identification, a passport or other federally issued identification to pass through a Transportation Security Adminsitration airport checkpoint, or the state will have to change its licensing and identification laws to comply with federal standards, according to the letter issued by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh C. Johnson. For a license or identification card to be REAL ID compliant, the state issuing it must, for example, incorporate anti-counterfeit technology into the card, verify the applicant’s identity, and conduct background checks for employees involved in issuing driver’s licenses.

“Over the next two years, those states that are not REAL ID compliant are strongly encouraged to meet the requirements of the law for the benefit of their residents”, he wrote in the letter posted on Homeland Security’s website.

Claiming concerns about privacy rights and the costs of implementing the new ID standards, some states have passed laws to put off adopting the REAL ID Act standards.

– Jan 22, 2018: The REAL ID Act will start to be enforced at airports and cruise terminals.

House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers, said: “This is good news and means the Legislature has ample time to continue efforts to comply with Real ID during the upcoming regular session”.

Dr. Paul continued, predicting the power struggle between the federal government and some states that is now unfolding, “Supporters claim it is not a national ID because it is voluntary”.

Dohman’s department is responsible for state-issued IDs and driver’s licenses.

Some politicians in many states, like Minnesota, said the new ID cards amounted to a national identification card, collecting and storing massive amounts of private data.

Previously, the the TSA had been set to stop accepting driver’s licenses from several U.S. territories and nine U.S. states – Alaska, California, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina, Washington, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands – on January 10, 2016. It contains no limits on the government’s power to impose additional standards. “As you can imagine, this caused confusion among travelers, many of whom called their travel agents for guidance”.