The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that it is delaying the enforcement of REAL ID another two years.
The deadline for residents of states, including Oregon, to become REAL ID compliant was May 3, 2023. DHS now says it will be May 7, 2025, to give states and the District of Columbia the extra time they need to make sure residents get REAL ID-compliant drivers licenses or identification cards.
DHS says the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are to blame for the postponement.
“REAL ID progress over the past two years has been significantly hindered by state driver’s licensing agencies having to work through the backlogs created by the pandemic,” DHS said in a statement. “Many of these agencies took various steps in response to the pandemic including automatically extending the expiration dates of driver’s licenses and identification cards and shifting operations to appointment only.”
Oregon has not been immune to these problems. Staffing issues over the summer forced the temporary closure of the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Redmond.
Once REAL ID goes into effect, a non-REAL ID license or identification card will not be enough to get you through airport security to board even a domestic flight. You’ll need REAL ID, a passport or some other federally-accepted form of identification.
For those in Oregon who don’t have a REAL ID license or identification card, this delay means they can wait for their renewal date — if it comes before May 7, 2025 — to get REAL ID.
The REAL ID Act was passed by Congress in 2005, but the deadline has been constantly pushed back.
