# Possible Real ID problem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664 "2025-04-29T20:02:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/101 "2025-05-01T17:24:37Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Not sure what your point is. Well, part of my point is that a passport is both proof of citizenship and proof of identity, and it’s possible it will be easier to get a passport, first, and then use it to get real iD. It certainly used to be the case that one valid form of proof that “this person standing here is person who was issued this birth certificate” was a witness willing to state under oath that that is, in fact, the case. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/102 "2025-05-01T17:24:47Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > Fortunately, that’s not a no, so why not see if what you have will work? None of us here are representatives of Oregon DMV so we’re all just speculating. > > Hard to disagree. No matter what protocols the Real ID system would have in place, there’d be edge cases and exceptions. Yes, there are edge cases and exceptions, but are any of us in a position to decide whether to grant an exception to the OP? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/103 "2025-05-01T17:26:41Z")
Nope - you didn’t need a SS number for dependents on your tax return until the 80s or 90s. Before that, you applied when you needed the number , say to open a bank account or to get a job. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/104 "2025-05-01T17:36:05Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My understanding is that, at that time, it was not uncommon at all for kids to not have SSNs, until they actually needed one for work. Right – I didn’t have one until I needed one to sign up for high-school football in the late 1980s. My dad took me to the local Social Security Administration offices with the requisite documents (surely a birth certificate?) and I got the card. I think it was mailed to me. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/105 "2025-05-01T17:38:19Z")
I had to go down with my mother to the Blanchard General Store and Post Office in Idaho to pick it up. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/106 "2025-05-01T17:39:09Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Yes, there are edge cases and exceptions, but are any of us in a position to decide whether to grant an exception to the OP? No, no … I was just agreeing with you that **Czarcasm** needs an expert’s\*\* help here. Because his case is not the usual, everyday case. “Exception” in the sense of “_not one of the typical easy cases_”. \*\* _and that hopefully, the person sitting across from him at the DMV is one of their rock-star ‘experts’ who knows how to get things done in the system._ ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/107 "2025-05-01T17:51:04Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > hopefully, the person sitting across from him at the DMV is one of their rock-star ‘experts’ who knows how to get things done in the system. And not, it is to be fervently hoped, one of the obstructive class of bureaucrat that will look at the discrepancy and simply “nope” out of the process, insisting (without any proffering any useful advice or guidance) that @Czarcasm has to settle this difference in documentation themselves before presenting themselves again to the DMV’s glorious premises. I suspect this is the worst case @Czarcasm is worried about, but I don’t see any solid advice to be offered here. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/108 "2025-05-01T18:05:13Z")
Sorry, yes, I think we’re in agreement. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/109 "2025-05-01T19:23:57Z")
Here’s a decent potted history of SSNs for dependents on tax returns. It came into effect for tax year 1987, meaning a LOT of SSns got issued in 1986. And a LOT of duplicate or completely imaginary kids disappeared. Probably a bunch of oldsters too but not quite as many. > **[Disappearing Dependents](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/declaration-of-non-dependents/)** > > Did several million dependents disappear from income tax returns in 1987? I was 28 by then, and like others above did not get my SSN until I was about to get my first job as a 15yo. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/110 "2025-05-01T22:09:50Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t understand; an Oregon driver’s license is one of the options listed under “proof of legal name.” The problem is when two or more official documents have different names. If he shows up with a birth certificate with one name, and his driver’s license has another, there’s a definite risk the state will then say “OK, show us the document when your legal name changed”. If you can’t, they’ll give you a RealID in the name on the birth certificate, but not the name the OP has been using all this time. > Thanks; would a veteran have a “uniformed services ID” or “privilege card”? And if not, surely the current driver’s license qualifies as proof of legal name? Not anymore. Not for RealID purposes. Any change from the name on the birth certificate will require documentation of change, that is, something like a marriage license or court-ordered name change or adoption or the like. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/111 "2025-05-01T22:15:43Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > This is interesting. These days, Social Security Numbers seem to be assigned at birth (for instance, I’ve always had to enter my children’s SSNs on tax returns, even when they were infants). I wonder if that was true in the 1950s/1960s? By today’s rules, your SSN card would show “Czarcasm X”. No, it was not. I was born in the 1960’s I did not get a SS# until I took my first job, which was in my late teens. There was a time when getting a SS# for a newborn was seen as a bizarre idea, only working people needed one. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/112 "2025-05-02T15:44:36Z")
Have you considered reaching out to your congressional rep for help? You have an unusual and complicated situation, and you are dealing with the federal government’s requirements, even if the ID will be issued by your state. Your rep might be able to help – they hire offices full of people to help consituents. Your state rep might also be able to help. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/113 "2025-05-02T15:47:45Z")
I have to get my birth certificate from Guam first to see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/114 "2025-05-02T21:16:12Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > If you can’t, they’ll give you a RealID in the name on the birth certificate, but not the name the OP has been using all this time. Except the Oregon DMV page says that part of the process is to call up your data from SSA which needs to match the name used on the primary document. > [@Broomstick](#): > > There was a time when getting a SS# for a newborn was seen as a bizarre idea, only working people needed one. Or someone opening a bank account. I got my SSN when I opened a bank account to deposit my confirmation gifts. I don’t think I even showed them a birth certificate since they let me use my confirmation name as my middle name instead of the name on the birth certificate (discussed in a thread a few months ago describing my successful effort to get the middle name on my SSA record corrected). > [@Czarcasm](#): > > I have to get my birth certificate from Guam first to see what happens. I can’t wait to see how the DMV reacts to a birth certificate from Guam. “Wait, your not a US Citizen, you’re a Guameranian!” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/115 "2025-05-02T21:57:22Z")
That’s when I ask “And where do I go to get a Guameranian passport?”. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/116 "2025-05-03T00:03:24Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > “Wait, your not a US Citizen, you’re a Guameranian!” At least it’s not like he’s a Martian ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/117 "2025-05-03T00:06:06Z")
Careful, I have an explosive space modulator and I’m not afraid to use it… ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/118 "2025-05-05T16:17:00Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Careful, I have an explosive space modulator and I’m not afraid to use it.. Where’s the kaboom? **There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom.** ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/119 "2025-05-06T16:37:38Z")
Breaking news reports that Kristi Noem is saying you can still travel without Real ID but you will go through additional screenings. For now anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664/120 "2025-05-06T16:42:26Z")
Please provide a link to this “advice”. Sounds amusing. BTW, is there a Congressional ID Card that works for them, or do they need Real ID also? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-real-id-problem/1017664.md?page=7)