REAL ID requirements for air travel in the U.S.is, are set to take effect on May 7, seemingly for real this time, and only 20 years after the law was signed by President George W. Bush. Even so, TSA appears to be a bit nervous about it.
The law requires anyone getting on a plane in the U.S. to have ID that meets a set of standards that allows verification by federal agencies. That includes passports, state-issued enhanced driver licenses and military ID. It’s been repeatedly postponed with new dates, as the image above shows.
But, even after all that time, and with many postponements, TSA is apparently concerned that a significant number of people may show up without causing backups and delays at airports. It’s published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would “provide federal agencies with necessary flexibility to begin enforcement of the REAL ID regulations on the May 7, 2025, deadline in a manner that takes into account security, operational risk and public impact.”
In other words, a rule that would allow TSA a certain amount of wiggle room as the date approaches without actually extending the deadline. The public announcement says it will “allow TSA to consider a phased enforcement approach to REAL ID implementation” and to “plan for a range of scenarios to help minimize the potential impact to travelers, industry stakeholders and states during implementation.”
“This proposed rule recognizes these concerns and would provide flexibility by permitting agencies to, for a period of up to 2 years, implement REAL ID card-based enforcement using a phased approach tailored to their specific operations.”
Apparently, 20 years wasn’t enough time to do that.
