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A stricter identity verification requirement for U.S. residents is slated to take force next week after 20 years of delay. And for many, the law will require a visit to one of the nation's most notorious, time-honored places of dread: the Department of Motor Vehicles.
These facilities can vary slightly both in name and in acronym: Texans, for example, have a Department of Public Safety or DPS; Floridians dub theirs the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles or HSMV. (Add to the mix the DDS, the BMV and the MVD, it's a veritable alphabet soup.)
Despite the different names, each of these state-run facilities serves the same purpose: to license drivers and issue identification cards to residents living in the state. They share the same wait times and inspire the same feelings of burden and loathing.
But for individuals in some states, things are about to get a lot worse, fast.
On May 7, all U.S. residents will be required to show a "REAL ID-compliant" form of identification to board any flights, including international and domestic travel, or to enter any federal buildings in compliance with a long-stalled federal law passed by Congress in 2005.
A REAL ID is a state-issued driver's license or state-issued identification card that meets certain federal standards, and it requires individuals to provide additional documentation, such as several documents proving current state residency – a utility agreement and lease, for example – as well as a certified birth certificate, among other things.
REAL IDs are now issued by all state DMVs (or BMVs or HSMVs) in anticipation of the fast-approaching enforcement date. REAL ID-compliant ID cards and licenses are marked with a star or other symbol in the right-hand corner, and some states, including Texas and Florida, have been issuing them for years.
But because DMVs are operated at a state and not federal level, compliance with the tighter verification standards has until recently been optional. That's prompted a patchwork of compliance across the U.S. and a recent, frenzied panic from residents in states whose DMVs have not met the REAL ID standards.
NEED REAL ID IN A HURRY? HERE ARE SOME OPTIONS OUTSIDE THE DMV
In the final days before the new law takes effect, some U.S. residents are learning for the first time, to their horror, that their IDs are not up to snuff.
That's prompted a surge of last-minute appointments in some states as drivers frantically look to obtain these new IDs. In others, appointments are nearly impossible to come by.
New Jersey, for example, currently has no appointments available at any of its DMV facilities in the state. That could be a major problem for travelers in the Garden State, whose REAL ID compliance is the lowest in the country at 17% last month, according to data compiled by CBS News.
Other nearby states are reporting similar compliance rates, with Pennsylvania at 26% compliance and New York with 43%, which is less than half of all residents living in the state.
For individuals in these states, the REAL ID compliance standards amount to what could be a travel nightmare, especially ahead of the summer holiday season when airports brace for a sharp uptick in traffic.
As of January 2024, just 56% of state-issued drivers' licenses and identification cards were compliant with the new REAL ID requirements, according to DHS estimates. It's unclear how much that percentage has changed in the last year.
"DHS anticipates that a significant number of individuals seeking to use their DL/ID for a REAL ID official purposes on and after May 7, 2025, may not have a compliant DL/ID," the agency said in a memo last September.
In January, DHS issued a slightly more optimistic projection in the Federal Register, anticipating that by May 7, up to 66% of U.S. ID holders would have the new legally required ID.
But in the final days before the law takes force, it's hard to ascertain exactly where things stand. Horror stories persist in some states of drivers struggling to obtain the new ID, and in others, state lawmakers are hoping to be granted a delay.
In Kentucky, a group of state lawmakers led by Senate Transportation Committee Chair Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, urged DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to delay the REAL ID enforcement date, citing "growing concerns" from state residents who have been unable to access driver’s licensing services due to "limited appointment availability and long lines for walk-ins."
"This simple request is to protect Kentuckians from bureaucratic burdens," Higdon said in the letter. "Rural residents, seniors, and families still have hurdles in front of them, and in a lot of cases, may not be aware of their options. Only about 40 percent of our residents have a REAL ID, but I would also like more time to help Kentuckians understand that they may not need a REAL ID. Kentucky has made a good faith effort, but we just aren’t there yet."
TSA has warned that individuals who don't have the right ID before that date could be subject to significantly longer wait times or other disruptions to travel. This could impact travel plans for millions of Americans ahead of what is expected to be a busy summer traveling season.
Others could be barred from accessing certain federal buildings.
And the problem persists in other states as well: CBS News found in its April survey that at least 17 states have compliance rates of 50% or less, with 30 states at less than 70% compliance.
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