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REAL ID went into effect May 11, 2008. Recognizing that states needed more time to implement REAL ID, the department offered extensions to allow time to meet the requirements.
Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana |
Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon |
Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming American Samoa Guam Puerto Rico N. Mariana Islands Virgin Islands |
What does it mean if my State has been granted a REAL ID extension?
That means your State will be moving toward more secure driver's licenses. Secure identification is a 9/11 Commission recommendation that will help combat terrorism and identity theft.
According to the REAL ID Act, if an individual chooses to present a State-issued driver’s license or identification card for an official purpose as of May 11, 2008, that driver’s license or identification card must be issued by a State that is complying with the REAL ID Act. Those official purposes include: accessing a Federal facility, boarding federally-regulated commercial aircraft, and entering nuclear power plants. Any person presenting a driver's license or state identification card from a State with an approved extension will be able to use the document for official purposes.
The Department recognizes that States could not meet the full requirements of the Act by May 11, 2008 so it granted extensions for those States that requested them. The extension is good through December 31, 2009. In addition, States that meet certain benchmarks for the security of their credentials and licensing processes will automatically be granted a second extension until May 11, 2011 to complete full implementation of REAL ID.
Federal agencies will continue to accept licenses for official purposes from those States who have been granted extensions, as well as those who have been certified as compliant with REAL ID.
This page was last reviewed/modified on November 10, 2008.