What to know as REAL ID requirements go into effect less than nine months from now

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A federal initiative years in the making and pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic is set to take full effect in less than nine months. One local county clerk is advising residents to be ready when the requirements go into place.

Starting on May 7, 2025, U.S. travelers must be REAL ID compliant to board domestic flights, access certain federal facilities and even enter nuclear power plants.

This comes as a result of the REAL ID Act, which was passed nearly 20 years ago by Congress in 2005. According to the Department of Homeland Security, it was enacted based on a 9/11 Commission recommendation, and it establishes minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards.

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.

Once the standards are in effect, federal agencies – including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) – will be prohibited from accepting driver’s licenses and identification cards that do not meet REAL ID specifications.

"What everybody has to know is they have to have a REAL ID form. Either a driver's license, which New York State has a Real ID driver's license, or a passport or some other form of ID, like a NEXUS card or something like that. You're going to need that to get on a domestic flight, or to be able to get into a federal building," said Joe Jastrzemski, Niagara County Clerk with WBEN.

The REAL ID Act was initially set to be enforced starting in 2020, but with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government pushed it back three times: First to October 2021, then to May 2023, and then again to May 2025.

Jastrzemski says if you have maybe forgotten about the upcoming changes to federal regulations or are unfamiliar with REAL ID, it may be the right time to start thinking about it with nine months before it is implemented.

"Don't wait to the last minute. If you don't have some form of REAL ID, you're not going to be able to get on a domestic airline flight anymore," Jastrzemski said.

"You need a birth certificate, you need a social security card, and you need a proof of address of where you are. If you're a female and you've had a name changed, or even a male and name changed, you've got to show exactly how you became Joe Smith, Joe David, whatever it might be or a vice versa. Or if you went through a divorce and you changed your name back, or you've been married for a third time, you've got to show a paper trail of who you are and how you became that name, who you are exactly."

Jastrzemski adds it has to be a valid birth certificate and not something like a baptismal birth certificate.

How may a REAL ID card differ from having an Enhanced Driver's License in New York State?

"An Enhanced Driver's License is the same as a REAL ID, you've just got to pay more money for that one. It's $94.50 versus your $68.50 for a regular driver's license, a REAL ID one. It's the same amount of money for a regular driver's licenses as a REAL ID one, you've got to bring in proper documentation to show that you are, in fact, [yourself]," Jastrzemski said.

A REAL ID is also the same as a U.S. passport, only a passport is valid for 10 years and is, as Jastrzemski calls it, the "Holy Grail" of access across the world.

"That'll take you anywhere in our country, and it'll take you anywhere in the world, for the most part," he said. "And then an Enhanced Driver's License is the same as a REAL ID. That'll get you over into Canada and get you into Mexico, and on a domestic flight."

In order to sign up for a REAL ID driver's license, Jastrzemski says it's as simple as making the trek to your local DMV.

"In Niagara County, we take appointments , there are appointments you can make. We are going to start experiencing an uptick again in driver's licenses, because every eight years you have to renew your driver's license. So we're going to start that new cycle again when they went into those eight-year cycles," he noted.

Jastrzemski also notes part of the provision under the REAL ID Act in New York is state-to-state verification, which is going to start taking effect on Sept. 3.

"If you have a non-driver ID [in New York] and you have a Florida driver's license, you can't have two forms of ID like that. What they would do is they would suspend and revoke your Florida driver's license," Jastrzemski detailed. "And primarily, most of the people that had non-driver IDs are individuals that have pistol permits, and had to recertify their pistols. That was the reason why most of them had to have a non-driver ID. But no longer is that needed in order to be able to recertify your pistol permit."