A US passport is very valuable on the black market so unless I’m traveling internationally it’s locked up. I don’t want to have to “worry” about it if I’m hopping to Maui or Portland-
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I had fear of the unknown going into my first-ever Real ID DMV appointment today. Concerned about potential bureaucratic gotcha’s, I arrived with a small army of medical, auto, and home-related papers having my address on them. Alas, they simply looked at my current driver license, a freshly-minted certified birth certificate copy, plus whatever two or three things were at the top of my stack. Then it all got handed back to me, and that was that.
Lol! You sound like me. I had a folder full of everything all paper clipped together. I can’t remember what they needed, but it wasn’t a big deal. But in my defense, I had to renew mine during the covid lockdown and even getting any kind of an appointment was next to impossible. I didn’t want to be kicked out and not able to get it in time that my old one expired.
I was looking for my kids who didn’t have any utility bills in their names . I think they accept bank statements. Even if you do everything online like my kids, you can generate and print off a statement. I believe real estate, personal property statements counted too.
I live in MA. The Registry of Motor Vehicles sent me a letter. It was an instruction on what to do to apply for a Real ID including a list of documents (and substitutes) to bring. It was also suggested to complete an application online to speed up the process, which I did.
I am a AAA member so I chose to have this ID done at a local AAA branch. I also use my passport (as I do not know where I keep my birth certificate), together with that RMV letter and two pieces of mail with my name on them.
When I showed up at AAA, the staff reviewed my documents. All good. Had a pic taken. That’s it. The whole thing took about 10 mins. No line, no crowd. I was the only one at that time slot.
Not here.
Even if your married name is on your passport??
I lost my license about 10 years ago. When I went to replace it at the MD MVA, I brought my passport, SS card, a utility bill in my name and perhaps one or two other things (def not a marriage certificate as I don’t even know we have a copy of that). When all this business about the original Real ID deadline looming, I looked at my license and noticed I had the Real ID symbol on it already. My license had been renewed sometime in the years after I had replaced my lost license. When I renewed it, it automatically came with the real ID symbol, I guess b/c they had all my documents on file already. There is no extra fee for it in MD.
H travels a lot for business and tho he has a passport, that’s more cumbersome to travel with than his license, if he is traveling domestically. It was easy for him to get his Real ID license. In MD, you can make an appt online ahead of time and skip the line. Quick and easy.
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NJ MVC would not accept my birth certificate because I didn’t bring my marriage license as a bridging document even though I had a passport (fortunately I brought so many documents it worked out). I was just getting my regular license renewed, real ID is still very hard to get here, most offices have no appointments available, those that do are months out and far from me. I’ll carry my passport card.
I did that too (renewed online). It was a really nice option. And I agree with you about the Real ID… I don’t see where it’s any more real than a passport. It’s good for those without a passport and anyone else who wants one, but we don’t need it and will only get one when it’s the only option out there.
FWIW, I’ve lost my driver’s license before, and had to get it replaced. I’ve yet to lose my passport.
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A passport card may be more convenient to carry if used mainly for ID domestically and/or land or sea travel to Canada or Mexico, compared to the usual passport book.
When I got my driver license converted to a Real ID version (optional), there was a long list of “address” documents allowed. Among them were car registration and insurance bill. I used a car registration and car insurance bill for that car. I would think that the DMV already knew about the registration, since the DMV issued it…
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It is likely that most non Real ID licences are and will be held by citizens who do not want to bother with the extra paperwork and do not expect to need one.
I don’t understand the Real ID thing…it doesn’t make any sense. You can go to the DMV and present your valid, current driver’s license along with your passport - which in and of itself can serve as a Real ID - and that is not enough to get a Real ID driver’s license.
When the Real ID first started, maybe five years ago, I went with my youngest to the DMV (in PA) to get her a state ID. She was going to be traveling without Mom and Dad, and was not going to be with an adult all the time, yet under 16 so did not have a driver’s license. Three different people at the DMV told us three different things about forms to fill out, cost, etc. They were just about to issue the ID and then said that no Real IDs are issued to those under 18.
Then that leads to another topic - why do those under 18, traveling with an adult, not need to show ID at an airport? They just take the word of the adult that the kid is under 18? My 18 year old looks 12. And I recall once, long, long ago (well before 9/11), they were checking IDs at the airport against boarding passes. I went to take out an ID, and they said no, you don’t have to do that because you are under 16…I was 23 at the time. Doesn’t inspire confidence in security.
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I agree. Reading about what one needs to get a Real ID makes me think they certainly aren’t any more Real than anything else. It’d be super easy to get something addressed to yourself, esp bills. As I said, my Puerto Rico boy had Ohio State send him mail to his brother’s house in Ohio and he’s only visited that house for 3 days once. It wasn’t even an invitation to apply (good considering he graduated college back in 2018).
Super secure…
I can see them phasing out Real IDs totally and just going with whatever the state wants for a driver’s license.
I have a Real ID. It wasn’t a difficult process.
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I disagree. I’ve had Real ID licenses in 3 states, Colorado, Florida, and California. All three automatically put me into the Real ID process without even offering the other option. All three states have a lot of undocumented people getting licenses (well, I don’t know if they are offered in Florida).
In California, there was a big controversy when they started issuing the non-citizen licenses as there was a banner on them that said ‘not valid for proof of citizenship’ or something like that that was very clear to cops that they hadn’t just not presented the right documents to get the Star but that they weren’t eligible for REal ID. I think they took that off, but it was a fight. I was living in southern California and went through a few document checkpoints, one coming out of a Dodgers game. I wouldn’t have had a passport with me that night if I relied on the ‘I can always show a passport’ option.
I’ll take my star on the license over a picture of me from 20 years ago, no matter how good I looked in that picture. I’m glad my daughter who is Chinese has the Real ID.
But I agree with the poster above to either enforce the 2005 law or get rid of it. Twenty years to implement a law is ridiculous.
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Before there was Real ID, all California driver licenses did have a notation that they were not proof of eligibility for federal benefits or something like that. These days, the non-Real-ID ones say “federal limits apply” like in other states that issue non-Real-ID ones.
In any case, non-citizens can get Real ID licenses, so describing a non-Real-ID license as a “non-citizen” license is incorrect terminology.
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My DL expired in 2020. My state, Missouri, did not offer any extensions or online renewals. Our DMV offices are privately operated. Some offer appointments, but many do not. Appointments were typically booked well in advance. I was able to get an appointment and went in with my bag of documentation, which included my passport. I had way more documentation than I needed, so getting a Real ID was easy. I wore my mask through most of the appointment and only pulled it down for the photo, so I have a photo on mine with my N95 very visible around my neck. Definitely not my best DL photo.
I also renewed my passport online recently. The only hard part of that was getting the system to accept my photo. Technically, that is still processing, so it may still get rejected.
I won’t ever carry my passport on domestic flights/travel. Before the pandemic, I would have been in huge trouble if I lost my passport since I did a lot of international travel. It would have been a hassle with some visas in my passport.
It’s not something that I can carry in my wallet like a DL, so, at least for me, it’s worth having the Real ID if/when it becomes required for domestic flights.
YMMV. But, for me, the key issues for not carrying my passport are (a) it’s not needed for domestic travel; (b) I am up a creek if I lose it; and (c) it’s a pain to carry around and can get more easily damaged than a hard DL card. On the third point, many years ago, I was traveling overseas and my passport had a bit of liquid damage. I was stuck in a holding area at London Gatwick and nearly missed my next flight while the UK immigration folks took nearly an hour to clear me through.
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Do you have a passport card?
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I do, but I understand it can’t be used for domestic flights, only for land/water crossings into Canada and Mexico.