REAL ID-less? You possibly can nonetheless fly — however with an enormous caveat.

The REAL ID deadline begins Wednesday (Could 7), although Division of Homeland Safety officers say these with out the brand new identification can nonetheless board planes however might want to get to the airport even earlier.

At a congressional listening to on Tuesday, Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned vacationers who will not be REAL ID compliant will face further safety procedures at U.S. airports, together with presumably being diverted to additional traces. The New York Instances stories that TSA officers lately echoed that assertion on Reddit, saying fliers with out REAL IDs ought to get to the airport an hour sooner than they initially deliberate.

The REAL ID deadline arrives practically 20 years to the day after the REAL ID legislation handed within the wake of the 9/11 terrorist assaults. The requirement for having a REAL ID to fly domestically has been frequently prolonged however was lastly set in stone by President Biden, with the Trump administration preserving that Could 2025 date.

For many years, People have been in a position to fly domestically utilizing solely a state-issued driver’s license, however the star-emblazoned REAL ID requires extra identification affirmation, together with paperwork verifying addresses and social safety numbers. Each state has completely different guidelines on the way you flip their state ID or driver’s license right into a federally-compliant REAL ID. California, for instance, asks vacationers to fill out an internet software, add needed paperwork (like passports and beginning certificates for private identification and utility payments to show California residency), present a social safety quantity, then go to a Division of Motor Automobiles workplace — with the laborious copies of the paperwork you uploaded — earlier than the REAL ID is issued.

American vacationers with out REAL IDs can nonetheless fly domestically, and with out additional safety, with a U.S. passport, a everlasting resident card, a World Entry card, or a Division of Protection ID.