It’s October 2nd, 2019 so we are now less than one year away from the October 1, 2020 implementation of the Federal REAL ID Act.

Update on April 2, 2020: The deadline for the Federal REAL ID Act is now October 1, 2021! Please do not wait until the last minute.

Take a moment now and look at your driver’s license.  It should have a star on the upper half.  Every state is slightly different, but it can be black or golden yellow or white in a circle (or even a bear) — double check your state-issued driver’s license using the guidelines found on the web with the Department of Homeland Security: https://www.dhs.gov/real-id.  Regardless how your state does it you should be able to easily find a star printed on the top half of your license.  If your identification does not comply then you need to know you will not be able to use your driver’s license for domestic air travel after October 1, 2020 2021.

What should you do?  The best thing is to get an updated license with the star.  Doing this as soon as possible ensures you won’t be scrambling at the last minute.  If you really can’t handle the thought of dealing with this then you always also have the option of bringing your passport with you for domestic flights.

Posted in Planning and tagged , , , , , , , ,