Does a Non Federal Driving License Work for Air Travel

In 2021 DHS said only 43% of driver's licenses were REAL IDs. If you want to utilize your license to fly in the U.South. after May 2023, it will need to be a Real ID.

Anyone who has been to a DMV in the last couple of years has likely seen signs and posters that say REAL ID is coming before long, and everyone will need i to fly.

REAL ID is a land ID menu or driver'due south license that meets stricter issuance standards than a typical state ID would. Some states began the transition to Existent IDs for licenses a decade agone, while others just started more than recently. Real ID's stricter standards, and its tardily adoption by some states, has made it so many Americans nevertheless don't have a Real ID.

Angel texted the VERIFY team to enquire if they demand a Existent ID to travel domestically and internationally.

THE QUESTION

Does your driver's license demand to exist a Existent ID to fly domestically?

THE SOURCES

THE Answer

No, your driver'southward license does not demand to be a Existent ID to wing domestically. That will change on May 3, 2023, when the federal regime will start requiring information technology.

WHAT We Establish

Currently, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lists regular driver'due south licenses and land photo ID cards every bit acceptable forms of identification at airport checkpoints, simply information technology notes that all such IDs must be Existent ID compliant by the May three, 2023 deadline for anyone seeking to fly within the U.S.

After that date, the just driver'due south licenses or state ID cards TSA volition take will be Real ID cards. TSA volition too accept passports and sure other forms of identification. Existent ID cards won't exist plenty to become on international flights, TSA says, which will still crave passports.

The REAL ID Human action became law in 2005, and prohibited federal agencies from accepting state commuter'due south licenses and IDs, unless those documents met minimum security requirements. These requirements would be fix by the Secretary of Homeland Security, and included "the incorporation of specified data, a common motorcar-readable engineering, and certain anti-fraud security features."

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to be issued a Existent ID,  y'all must provide documents that prove your full legal name, your engagement of birth, your Social Security number, ii proofs of address and lawful status. A REAL ID commuter's license or ID will include a star on it to identify it, according to the U.S. Travel Clan, which represents companies in the American travel industry.

For example, if someone were to utilise for a Existent ID, they could provide a U.S. nascency certificate or U.Due south. passport, an original Social Security card, a bank account statement with their address listed and a utility beak with their address listed as a ready of adequate documents. Someone not built-in in the U.South. would have to provide a fifth document to prove their legal potency to be in the U.S., such as a Permanent Resident Carte du jour or a Certificate of Naturalization.

In 2012 only 13 states had been verified by DHS as Existent ID compliant, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and since then every state has updated its license requirements to meet Real ID standards. States nonetheless allow residents to get regular driver's licenses and state IDs by submitting just one proof of residency instead of two proofs.

Passports and passport cards are also acceptable forms of identification that can be used instead of Existent IDs, and volition proceed to be even after regular licenses and land IDs will no longer be accepted. Other acceptable identification documents include Veteran Health Identification Cards, permanent resident cards and Department of Defense ID cards, among others.

In 2013, DHS appear REAL ID requirements for air travelers would first take effect in 2016. But the enforcement for these requirements has been delayed several times, virtually recently in April 2021 when DHS pushed Real ID enforcement back to its current deadline.

At the time DHS announced the latest borderline extension, it said only 43% of state driver's licenses and IDs were Real ID compliant.

A March 2020 survey deputed by the U.S. Travel Association found an estimated 83 million American adults (34%) say they do not accept any course of TSA-accepted identification — Real ID, passport or any other listed TSA-accepted document — in one case the deadline passes.

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