REAL ID Delayed Once more to 2025, 20 Years After Legislation Signed

The U.S. Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) introduced it has delayed the REAL ID full enforcement deadline as soon as once more. The date has been pushed again by 24 months, to Could 7, 2025. Home air vacationers will now have an additional two years to make use of their present driver’s licenses to get via airport TSA checkpoints earlier than they’ll be required to make use of REAL ID-compliant licenses. If this deadline stands, REAL ID will go into impact 20 years after Congress first established the brand new identification necessities.

The safety requirements have been delayed but once more on account of COVID-related disruptions. The Division of Homeland Safety cited pandemic backlogs confronted by state driver’s licensing companies as the rationale for the delay. Secretary of Homeland Safety Alejandro N. Mayorkas acknowledged:

“DHS continues to work intently with U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories to satisfy REAL ID necessities. This extension will give states wanted time to make sure their residents can get hold of a REAL ID-compliant license or identification card. DHS may also use this time to implement improvements to make the method extra environment friendly and accessible. We’ll proceed to make sure that the American public can journey safely.”

The brand new federal minimal safety requirements for state-issued driver’s licenses have been established in 2005 when Congress handed the REAL ID Act based mostly on a advice by the 9/11 Fee. Initially, the usual was supposed to enter impact in 2008, however quite a few state governments refused to replace their drivers’ licenses to adjust to the brand new normal.

Most lately, REAL ID was supposed to enter impact on October 1, 2020. Resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government delayed the deadline to October 2021, then pushed it additional to Could 2023. With today’s delay pushing the deadline to 2025, REAL ID will roll out 17 years after it was first meant to take impact.