CA Travelers, Here's How To Meet Looming REAL ID Requirements

CALIFORNIA — If you've caught a flight out of California in recent months, you have likely seen signs about the deadline to get a REAL ID, which will be required for domestic flights beginning next May.

Adult travelers who normally show their driver's license or state ID when passing through airport security will have to get a new card to comply with the federal regulations, if they have not done so already. The REAL ID-compliant cards will have a star in the top right corner.

Homeland Security officials set May 7, 2025, as the final date for getting the gold star to board domestic flights and enter certain federal offices, after moving the deadline multiple times. Following years of delays and efforts to get all states into compliance, the DHS initially set a final deadline of Oct. 1, 2020. Early into the pandemic, DHS extended that deadline to 2021, and the following year kicked it to 2023, before moving it once more to 2025.

After the new deadline passes, federal agencies — including the Transportation Security Administration — will no longer accept identification that does not meet the new standards. Travelers can still show a valid U.S. passport, Global Entry Card, or another federally-approved form of identification to pass through a TSA checkpoint.

Some individual states have specific requirements to get a REAL ID card. In California, applicants need to provide an approved method of identification, like a passport or birth certificate, two proofs of residency, such as cell phone and utility bills, and a social security number. Residents can upload their documents online before they make the trip to the DMV.

Golden State residents who don’t plan to fly domestically or visit a federal office don’t need to do anything. A REAL ID isn't required to get a driver's license. Also, the TSA won’t require children under 18 to provide identification when they’re traveling with an adult companion within the United States, but the companion must have acceptable identification.

The REAL ID is not a substitute for a passport required for international travel, and it also does not affect the ability to vote or register to vote, applications for federal benefits, enter federal facilities that don’t require identification, obtain medical care, or participate in police proceedings or investigations.

The REAL ID Act of 2005 was passed by Congress after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In addition to the stars on REAL ID driver's licenses, the cards themselves will be built with new technology, making them much more difficult to forge, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Here are other forms of identification that will be accepted in lieu of a REAL ID, according to the TSA:

• U.S. passport
• U.S. passport card
• Department of Homeland Security trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
• U.S. Department of Defense ID, including IDs issued to dependents
• Permanent resident card
• Border crossing card
• An acceptable photo ID issued by a federally recognized Tribal Nation/Indian Tribe
• Personal Identity Verification Card (HSPD-12 PIV card)
• Foreign government-issued passport
• Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada card
• Transportation worker identification credential
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Authorization Card (I-766)
• U.S. Merchant Mariner Credential
• Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC)

Patch Editors Michelle Rotuno Johnson and Deb Belt contributed to this report.