May 10, 2025 • 8 mins
Did you get your REAL ID yet? Earlier this week, the law requiring you to have one to fly domestically or enter certain federal buildings kicked in, and it's caused a bit of confusion for some who haven't been able to get one. Lines have been long at the RMV and appointments are tough to find. What happens if you need to travel and you don't have your updated ID? Dan Velez, spokesman for TSA New England, answers your questions about the ID's and the new regulations.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together and
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. Ready to be back with you
again this weekend, I'm Nicole Davis. All right, here's a
question for you. Do you have your real ID yet?
There's a lot of talk about those these days, and
(00:27):
that's because earlier this week the new law requiring one
for certain travel and access kicked in. Now you're gonna
have to have one of these driver's licenses or another
approved ID like a passport, either to fly domestically or
get into a federal building. If you don't have one
and need to travel though and can't wait in one
of those lines, there's a bit of confusion about what
all this means. Let's bring in Dan Vials. He is
(00:50):
the spokesman for TSA here in New England and he's
got all the information we need. So Dan, thank you
so much for being here and for your time. It
kind of seems like we've been seeing this coming for
a while now.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Right Yeah. So real ID stems back to two thousand
and five, the real ID Act, which was put into
the law after a recommendation from the nine to eleven
Commission on making sure that identification cards driver's licenses are
a more vetted form of identification. So you have when
(01:23):
you go to your DMB, your RMVVMB, you have to
have a certain criteria of paperwork to ensure that you
are who you say you are. So this is basically
to ensure that when people go into a federal facility,
they get onto an aircraft, a nuclear power plant, military installation,
(01:46):
that they have a very vetted form of identification. That's
what this is all about.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Okay, and you, like you mentioned, this was first past
years and years ago. We're finally here in twenty twenty
five and the deadline is here when it comes to compliance.
How are we looking here in New England.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, so it varies from state to state. I know
the state of Connecticut, I know Vermont, Massachusetts. Yeah, they're
all doing pretty well. They're either at the average or
above average. And then there are some states across the country,
like states in Utah, like Utah and Texas who are
like over ninety percent as far as they are real
(02:26):
idy rates. So it's going to vary across the country.
But the most important number to remember is that right now,
eighty one percent of the individuals who are going to
the travel document checker are presenting either a real ID
or some form of acceptable ID.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Okay, And then when you talk about other acceptable ID,
because we'll talk about the process to get one of
these in a minute. But if you for whatever reason
can't get one right now, but you have to fly,
for example, or if you have to go to an
IRS building or whatever, what is another form of acceptable
ID to get in at this point?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, So we have a list of those IDs on
TSA dot govslash ID and some of those include some
states issue state issued enhanced driver's licenses. Those are acceptable
US passports, a passport card. If you're a DHS Trusted Traveler,
you can use that card as well. If you're in
(03:23):
the military or tiree or dependent, you can use your
military DoD card. And then there's about twelve or ten
others that people can use in lieu of a real ID.
So it's important for folks to realize too that tomorrow
isn't the deadline to get a real ID. Tomorrow is
(03:44):
enforcement date. So if you don't have a real ID now,
don't worry about it, you can get it down the road.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I know a lot of people who say, well, my
license isn't expiring for like another year or six months,
I'm not traveling anywhere. I have no reason to go
into a federal building for whatever reason. Can I wait?
So I think that that's important to know because getting
an appointment to get a real ID right now is
really hard because a lot of us are trying to
do this at once. So you don't have to rush
(04:12):
to the RMV and get this done tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, that's true, no rush to get there, especially now. Yeah,
I just recommend you use the passport or check out
the other forms of acceptable I D. You might already
have one and just use that and so you can
eventually down the road get an appointment to get a
real ID.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, you talk about the paperwork for a real ID.
What you know? You might not know every single thing
people need, and that's totally fine. But what are the
general basic pieces of identifiers that you would need to
get one of these real IDs?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah? So that's going to vary from state to state,
but at a minimum, you're going to need your full
legal name data, birth soul security number, two, proofs of address,
of your principal address and your lawful status, and then
others states may impose like additional requirements, so I would
check with your states RnB, DMV, BMV, OMV. I realized
(05:08):
that there are so many different names. There are five
room knowing it was DMV, and yeah, I'm learning all
these new ones.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, me too. Honestly, I spent I learned how to
drive in a DMV state, and now I live in
an RMV state. OMV is new to me. I have
never heard of one of those. What if somebody shows
up to the airport in the next few days and
they don't have a real ID, what's going to happen next?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, So if they don't have a real ID or
some form of acceptable real ID, the first thing that
they should do is to make sure that they get
to the airport a little bit earlier than they normally
do because they're going to have to go through an
additional screening process. So it's going to be different from
airport to airport. But our federal security directors have they've
(05:56):
gotten their transportation security officers ready for this, for this
day that's been coming for twenty years, and they're what
they're going to do at most airports is they're going
to identify ahead of time who's real ID compliant who isn't,
and if you're not, they may pull you off to
the side or take you into another lane. So that way,
(06:20):
those individuals who are real ID compliant can press on
and they're not going to be delayed. So if you
don't have any form of real ID, make sure you
get to the airport early.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, yeah, definitely these days, you have to get there
pretty early as it is, So if you get there
three hours early, just grab an extra half an hour
just in case. But the most important thing to know
is you will be able to fly. It's just going
to take you a bit longer to get through security.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, that's correct. As long as we can verify you
are who you say you are, yeah, you'll be able
to fly. I mean we're doing that now actually without
you know, we're not even not real ID or enforcement
day yet. But to this point, like if somebody came
to the checkpoint right now they had no identification on
them whatsoever, there's still a chance that that individual could fly.
(07:07):
We've had people come up to the podium and say
that their wallet was stolen or they lost it, and
we have a process where we can verify who that
individual is by a series of questions.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
When it comes to kids, I mean, obviously kids don't
have driver's licenses unless they're sixteen or seventeen. What's going
to happen when it comes to them? Do they have
to get their real IDs? Or is this just for
anybody who happens to be an adult.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, it's for any individual, any passenger who is eighteen
and older. So if you're seventeen and younger to newborn,
you do not need a real idea at all.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Kids don't have to run to the RMV, DMV OMV
and get a whole new license after just literally getting
their license probably a few months ago.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That's true. The lines are already backed up enough.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
If somebody has any questions, if they want to learn
a bit more about the real ID program, where do
you suggest they go to get some answer?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
TSA dot gov. As soon as you go to our website,
it's right there on the front page. You just click
on real ID, and then if you're looking for other
forms of acceptable ID, you can go to frequently ask
Questions and you'll see it in there.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
All right, Well, Dan, this is great information. Thank you
so much for coming on the show, and we'll see
you at the airport all right.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together and
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. Ready to be back with you
again this weekend, I'm Nicole Davis. All right, here's a
question for you. Do you have your real ID yet?
There's a lot of talk about those these days, and
(00:27):
that's because earlier this week the new law requiring one
for certain travel and access kicked in. Now you're gonna
have to have one of these driver's licenses or another
approved ID like a passport, either to fly domestically or
get into a federal building. If you don't have one
and need to travel though and can't wait in one
of those lines, there's a bit of confusion about what
all this means. Let's bring in Dan Vials. He is
(00:50):
the spokesman for TSA here in New England and he's
got all the information we need. So Dan, thank you
so much for being here and for your time. It
kind of seems like we've been seeing this coming for
a while now.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Right Yeah. So real ID stems back to two thousand
and five, the real ID Act, which was put into
the law after a recommendation from the nine to eleven
Commission on making sure that identification cards driver's licenses are
a more vetted form of identification. So you have when
(01:23):
you go to your DMB, your RMVVMB, you have to
have a certain criteria of paperwork to ensure that you
are who you say you are. So this is basically
to ensure that when people go into a federal facility,
they get onto an aircraft, a nuclear power plant, military installation,
(01:46):
that they have a very vetted form of identification. That's
what this is all about.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Okay, and you, like you mentioned, this was first past
years and years ago. We're finally here in twenty twenty
five and the deadline is here when it comes to compliance.
How are we looking here in New England.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, so it varies from state to state. I know
the state of Connecticut, I know Vermont, Massachusetts. Yeah, they're
all doing pretty well. They're either at the average or
above average. And then there are some states across the country,
like states in Utah, like Utah and Texas who are
like over ninety percent as far as they are real
(02:26):
idy rates. So it's going to vary across the country.
But the most important number to remember is that right now,
eighty one percent of the individuals who are going to
the travel document checker are presenting either a real ID
or some form of acceptable ID.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Okay, And then when you talk about other acceptable ID,
because we'll talk about the process to get one of
these in a minute. But if you for whatever reason
can't get one right now, but you have to fly,
for example, or if you have to go to an
IRS building or whatever, what is another form of acceptable
ID to get in at this point?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, So we have a list of those IDs on
TSA dot govslash ID and some of those include some
states issue state issued enhanced driver's licenses. Those are acceptable
US passports, a passport card. If you're a DHS Trusted Traveler,
you can use that card as well. If you're in
(03:23):
the military or tiree or dependent, you can use your
military DoD card. And then there's about twelve or ten
others that people can use in lieu of a real ID.
So it's important for folks to realize too that tomorrow
isn't the deadline to get a real ID. Tomorrow is
(03:44):
enforcement date. So if you don't have a real ID now,
don't worry about it, you can get it down the road.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I know a lot of people who say, well, my
license isn't expiring for like another year or six months,
I'm not traveling anywhere. I have no reason to go
into a federal building for whatever reason. Can I wait?
So I think that that's important to know because getting
an appointment to get a real ID right now is
really hard because a lot of us are trying to
do this at once. So you don't have to rush
(04:12):
to the RMV and get this done tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, that's true, no rush to get there, especially now. Yeah,
I just recommend you use the passport or check out
the other forms of acceptable I D. You might already
have one and just use that and so you can
eventually down the road get an appointment to get a
real ID.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, you talk about the paperwork for a real ID.
What you know? You might not know every single thing
people need, and that's totally fine. But what are the
general basic pieces of identifiers that you would need to
get one of these real IDs?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah? So that's going to vary from state to state,
but at a minimum, you're going to need your full
legal name data, birth soul security number, two, proofs of address,
of your principal address and your lawful status, and then
others states may impose like additional requirements, so I would
check with your states RnB, DMV, BMV, OMV. I realized
(05:08):
that there are so many different names. There are five
room knowing it was DMV, and yeah, I'm learning all
these new ones.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, me too. Honestly, I spent I learned how to
drive in a DMV state, and now I live in
an RMV state. OMV is new to me. I have
never heard of one of those. What if somebody shows
up to the airport in the next few days and
they don't have a real ID, what's going to happen next?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, So if they don't have a real ID or
some form of acceptable real ID, the first thing that
they should do is to make sure that they get
to the airport a little bit earlier than they normally
do because they're going to have to go through an
additional screening process. So it's going to be different from
airport to airport. But our federal security directors have they've
(05:56):
gotten their transportation security officers ready for this, for this
day that's been coming for twenty years, and they're what
they're going to do at most airports is they're going
to identify ahead of time who's real ID compliant who isn't,
and if you're not, they may pull you off to
the side or take you into another lane. So that way,
(06:20):
those individuals who are real ID compliant can press on
and they're not going to be delayed. So if you
don't have any form of real ID, make sure you
get to the airport early.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, yeah, definitely these days, you have to get there
pretty early as it is, So if you get there
three hours early, just grab an extra half an hour
just in case. But the most important thing to know
is you will be able to fly. It's just going
to take you a bit longer to get through security.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, that's correct. As long as we can verify you
are who you say you are, yeah, you'll be able
to fly. I mean we're doing that now actually without
you know, we're not even not real ID or enforcement
day yet. But to this point, like if somebody came
to the checkpoint right now they had no identification on
them whatsoever, there's still a chance that that individual could fly.
(07:07):
We've had people come up to the podium and say
that their wallet was stolen or they lost it, and
we have a process where we can verify who that
individual is by a series of questions.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
When it comes to kids, I mean, obviously kids don't
have driver's licenses unless they're sixteen or seventeen. What's going
to happen when it comes to them? Do they have
to get their real IDs? Or is this just for
anybody who happens to be an adult.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, it's for any individual, any passenger who is eighteen
and older. So if you're seventeen and younger to newborn,
you do not need a real idea at all.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Kids don't have to run to the RMV, DMV OMV
and get a whole new license after just literally getting
their license probably a few months ago.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That's true. The lines are already backed up enough.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
If somebody has any questions, if they want to learn
a bit more about the real ID program, where do
you suggest they go to get some answer?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
TSA dot gov. As soon as you go to our website,
it's right there on the front page. You just click
on real ID, and then if you're looking for other
forms of acceptable ID, you can go to frequently ask
Questions and you'll see it in there.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
All right, Well, Dan, this is great information. Thank you
so much for coming on the show, and we'll see
you at the airport all right.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio
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