REAL ID Act of 2005


The Real ID Act of 2005 requires states to adopt and comply with certain standards, procedures and requirements for driver’s license issuance by May 2008. The law is intended to thwart terrorists and illegal immigrants from illegally obtaining IDs. Driver’s licenses from states that do not comply with the new standards will not be accepted for use by federal agencies for any official purpose, including identification. Additionally, driver's licenses from non-compliant states will be denied at airport security checkpoints. 

On January 28, 2008, DHS issed the REAL ID Final Rule.  In this rule, DHS designated eighteen different security criteria that license issuing jurisdictions must meet in order to be certified as REAL ID-compliant by the department.  The first ten of these criteria were due by May 2, 2008, although states were allowed to apply for a waiver of these requirements until the end of 2009. Although all States were issued waivers, several have passed laws forbidding them from complying with the program.  Additionally, several states have called upon the federal government to rescind the REAL ID requirement.