REAL ID Deadline Extended Again For Pennsylvanians

PENNSYLVANIA — U.S. residents will have an additional 19 months to get their REAL ID after the Department of Homeland Security delayed the requirement for air travelers to have a REAL ID-compliant form of identification by Oct. 1.

The announcement that the deadline has been postponed until May 3, 2023 was made Tuesday.

Officials said the new delay is due to the pandemic, which is making it harder for people to get into state motor vehicle departments and get the new IDs.

Fewer than 50 percent of Americans have obtained their REAL ID, according to officials.

The REAL ID Act was passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to establish minimum security standards for state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards. The Department of Homeland Security initially postponed the enforcement date for REAL ID from Oct. 1, 2020, to Oct. 1, 2021, in response to COVID-19.

While REAL IDs are optional, once the law is in place, you'll need some form of acceptable identification to board domestic flights and access federal buildings if you do not obtain one. Other IDs that will be accepted to fly or get into a federal building include a U.S. passport or a military ID.

"Extending the Real ID full enforcement deadline will give states needed time to reopen their driver’s licensing operations and ensure their residents can obtain a Real ID-compliant license or identification card,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

Real ID-compliant cards are issued after a more thorough check of an applicant's identification and incorporate new security features that make them harder to counterfeit. Under the Real ID Act, travelers 18 or older wanting to board an airplane by using a driver's license for identification must have one that conforms with the law's stricter requirements.

The travel industry applauded the extension.

"Extending the REAL ID deadline is the right move, and we’re grateful to DHS for heeding the evidence and the calls from our industry. Getting to REAL ID compliance on time was already going to be a challenge before COVID shut down DMVs for extended periods," U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President for Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes said. "Significant travel disruption was likely if the deadline were allowed to hit, which the U.S. economy can’t afford after a $500 billion decline in travel spending last year and millions of travel jobs lost to the pandemic.”

More information on how to get a REAL ID in Pennsylvania can be found here.

With reporting by Mark Hand of Patch