IIRC Real ID is state issued ID approved by the fed. That will allow one to fly domestically on commercial aircrafts. Enhanced DL includes everything that Real ID has and is a licence that would also allow driving, walking etc. to a foreign country, basically only Mexico and Canada as the land bridge from Alaska to Russia is unlikely to reform with global warming. Enhanced DL’s is only available in states that border other countries.
They aren’t till they are.
I think you are conflating two things here. The things that give you cheaper fares and advanced technology and smoke free airplanes have nothing to do with the security theater that the TSA brings.
Oh, I’d happily end all the security theatre in a heartbeat. The guy with a black belt in karate is more of a danger than the senior citizen with too much hand lotion, but what does TSA focus on?
It was a back-door means to get a national identity card of sorts that certain folks have been agitating for for years.
My birth certificate is over 50 years old. They took it. Of course, YMMV.
In California, you are required to take the written test if you apply for the Real ID more than 60 days before the expiration of your license. If you apply within 60 days of expiration, you do not need to take the written test unless the DMV determines that you need to take it based on your driving record.
The biggest issue is whether the name on that birth certificate matches the name on all of your other documents. If you have changed your name for any reason (including marriage and divorce) you will need to have paperwork verifying the legality of the change. At least in California, most of the problems I have heard about involve people who changed their name and didn’t have documentation.
It does come up outside of marriage and divorce.
In my state there have been issues with adoptees having problems, and people who for whatever reason used a nickname so thoroughly from a young age that none of their current documents match their birth certificate name (which I suppose is an undocumented name change)
And if you did have a name change Og help you if you didn’t keep track of all the paperwork.
NJ has (had?) a rule that all official documentation has to have a raised stamp. WA uses (used) a multi-color stamp on official documentation. Had lots of fun getting my NJ driver’s license with my new name. Suggestion: do the name change separate from the move.
I do dread moving back to the U.S. due to the driver’s license requirements. At least I don’t have to worry about that for another decade or so. Maybe by then all states will have REAL ID. I’m still going to have fun due to an unusual first name. Most of my current documentation is consistent, that is, my passport, driver’s license and residence permit, but not all my bank records, etc. are exactly consistent.
For RealID purposes the bank records won’t matter.
The statuses of REAL ID licences in all 56 American jurisdictions (50 states, D.C., and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa) are given by this map:
Only five are not yet compliant.
Maybe, maybe not. Don’t know if that guy found an actual out on taking the test or the DMV was just that incompetent that day. Logically there should be no reason a test would be required just because you aren’t renewing on a particular date, but logic and regulations certainly needn’t coincide.
What the hell is the reason for that?
What about if you lose your ID? There are procedures right now to get enhanced screening if you lose your ID shortly before a flight. If you don’t have a REAL ID, couldn’t you just say you lost your id? If they’re closing that path… what if you actually lose your ID while on vacation?
If you lose your REAL ID, you go through enhanced screening. If you don’t have a READ ID for any reason, you go through enhanced screening. Nothing has changed.
But, again, I’m not seeing why this is so suspicious. If you are legally in the United States (from a foreign country), you have a “REAL ID” right, your foreign issued passport? Everyone was required to show ID prior to 9/11, no? Didn’t all 19 of the 9/11 hijackers therefore have “REAL ID” on their person?
If I have missed something, then I stand to be corrected, but it seems as if this new requirement, which has been delayed for nearly 20 years because reasons, would not have prevented 9/11 but has been instituted because of some fear that people who are illegally present in the country might hijack airplanes and further be able to fake the state issued non-REAL IDs??? I honestly do not understand this need for it.
To your point, this “enhanced screening” makes no sense. I understand that if someone is claiming to be Jim Bob Jones and speaking with a southern accent you just can’t waive him through for racial/nationalist reasons. I agree with this. So let’s say that some guy named “Mohammed Al-Asir” walks up to the TSA checkpoint with either no ID or a state issued non-REAL ID.
What about that makes you think he is a better candidate to be a terrorist solely because of the absence of a REAL ID, more so than some other person who possesses a REAL ID and therefore gets less screening? Is there any rational reason?
Not for very long prior to 9/11. In 1996, it was still a weird new thing airlines were doing that was causing a lot of problems for the unaware:
I still don’t understand why getting a REAL ID in one state doesn’t keep you from going through the hassle all over again when you move to another state. That is, yes, of course, you may have to take a written test, vision test, etc., but the hassle of certified birth certificate, name change documentation, etc. would be done because you’d have a DL showing you’d met those requirements in the previous state.
I assume it’s just because it’s a badly written law subject to a lot of interpretations passed in the frenzy of post 9/11 security theatre mania.
Wasn’t 1996 around the time they started asking you the silly questions about did you pack your own bags and did anyone ask you to bring something on board for them?
Well, among the things you need to prove is residency (the utility bill & other proof of residency). Your former RealID shows that you were a resident there - your new state needs proof that you’re a resident in the new place. And as long as you’re doing that, you may as well bring the rest down.
I just applied for an Enhanced DL (don’t really need one. I have a passport card, but I thought the DL would be more convenient). Every other time I’ve been to the DOL, it’s been pretty quick & not worth mentioning. This time, I should have made an appointment for because it took 2 hours of waiting to be seen, after which it was 5 minutes.
Like many, I have my doubts that this will kick in six weeks before the next election, but just in case it does…