By Rose Bialk
Beginning May 7, 2025, anyone 18 years and older that plans to fly domestically or visit certain federal facilities will need a REAL ID or another acceptable form of identification, as previously issued driver’s licenses will no longer be accepted. The REAL ID act was passed by Congress in 2005 in response to the wave of securitization after 9/11, with the goal of creating a more reliable standard of identification.
Originally, after the act was passed in 2005, Congress set 2011 as the year of state implementation. However, it has been postponed five times since then, primarily due to state unreadiness, as well as events like the COVID-19 pandemic.
In years closer to the initial introduction of the act, there was pushback and concern from citizens and politicians, including Oregon legislature. In 2009, Oregon passed a state bill that prevented the implementation of the REAL ID act, becoming the 14th state to reject the DHS initiative. Despite the act’s intention of creating a more secure identification system, some politicians feared that the creation of a national database would create a greater risk of identity theft. Cost, privacy, and empowering the federal government were also among critiques of the REAL ID act. Oregon continued to resist the implementation of REAL ID up until 2017, in which legislators agreed to begin the rollout process.
The main effect of this act is that most state-issued driver’s licenses will no longer be considered valid identification at the airport. Because the majority of U.S. citizens carry their driver’s license regularly, rather than a passport, some may consider getting a REAL ID, especially if they travel frequently.
The states of Washington, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and Vermont offer Enhanced Driver’s Licenses (EDL), which will be a valid identification alternative to a REAL ID. EDL’s allow U.S. citizens to use their driver’s license to cross into Canada rather than needing a passport or other form of identification, making them popular in Canadian border states.
The REAL ID act will not change the other acceptable forms of identification that have been in place for decades at the airport, such as passports, military IDs, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) trusted traveler cards and more.
The process of obtaining a REAL ID requires going to your local DMV in-person and paying a $30 fee. The DMV posts a checklist online of all necessary documents to bring in order to obtain your REAL ID.
For college students, obtaining a REAL ID could be practical for several reasons. With a REAL ID you will not have to carry a passport or alternative identification at the airport when traveling domestically. Additionally, getting an Oregon-issued REAL ID would solidify Oregon-state residency for those who are out of state. For more information on necessary documents and how exactly to get a REAL ID, you can visit the DMV website of whichever state your permanent address is in. Unlike a passport, which often takes several months to arrive after applying and going into the DMV, the REAL ID should be delivered within a few weeks.
Coverage and discourse about the REAL ID act have been minimal in the past several years, perhaps because every time the deadline approaches it keeps getting postponed, like a driver’s license who called wolf.
Despite forms of identification being an unsexy political topic, the implementation of REAL ID will create barriers to travel, impacting low-income, as well as immigrant and undocumented communities. Air travel is already a huge cost, especially for those whose families or home is out-of-state – the $30 fee is additional weight to the disproportionate economic burden felt by low-income students.
The heightened scrutiny of identification that is implied with the REAL ID act causes concern for those with non-citizen status, or have family members without citizenship. In an article originally published by online news site palabra, later featured in The Oregonian, journalist Yesica Balderrama writes on the effect of the REAL ID act within immigrant communities.
“They (advocates) say immigrants are concerned about whether REAL ID will restrict a person’s ability to fly domestically, or expose them to profiling and discrimination by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and other gatekeepers at federal facilities. In immigrant communities, stories abound of detentions, deportations and the dismantling of mixed-status families that began because of a lack of proper identification — particularly during police encounters.”
The article covers perspectives from people of different citizen statuses, including an interview with a DACA recipient. The interviewee noted that she would not be applying for a REAL ID due to the potential of revealing information about undocumented family-members.
Will the DHS’s latest deadline be pushed back again? Is it worth it to take the dreaded trip to the DMV to update your driver’s license? Ultimately, your personal circumstances should be the determining factor of whether you get a REAL ID. While the REAL ID act does create new limitations within identification, the pre-existing alternatives remain a viable option.
About the Author
Do not get the REAL ID. Get a Passport instead.