What’s Going On With REAL ID? Things To Know In CT

CONNECTICUT — The deadline to get a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license has changed so many times it’s almost a punchline for a joke. Now, the date Connecticut residents need to remember is May 7, 2025.

After that date, if things stand as they are now, Connecticut residents will no longer be able to board domestic flights or enter nuclear power plants and certain federal buildings if they don’t have a REAL ID. One exception: A valid passport works as well as a REAL ID when boarding domestic flights.

Congress passed the REAL ID Act, a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, in 2005. It “establishes minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards, and prohibits federal agencies from accepting for official purposes licenses and identification cards from states that do not meet these standards.”

Here are some things to know about REAL ID and the new deadline:

How Do I Know If I Have A REAL ID?

A REAL ID is distinguishable from a regular Connecticut driver’s license because it has a white star inside a gold circle in the upper right corner. That’s a shorthand way of saying a person’s citizenship and legal residence status have been verified.

How Do I Get A REAL ID?

REAL ID cards are issued at driver’s licensing stations in Connecticut.

Four pieces of identification are required to obtain a REAL ID: a passport or birth certificate; secondary form of identification such as a driver's license, marriage license, US military ID, pilot's license or similar; a document that verifies your Social Security number, such as a Social Security card or tax return; and two documents proving proof of residence, such as a mortgage or rental receipt and a utility bill.

Note: Photocopies, notarized photocopies, non-certified copies, and damaged or mutilated documents are not acceptable. Note, too, the name on your primary identity, secondary identity, and social security documents must be an exact match. Any difference that includes abbreviated first or middle names, hyphenated last names, nicknames, "Jr.", "III", etc., will not be accepted without additional name change documents or an original/certified birth certificate to prove the name.

Why Is The Deadline So Fluid?

The Department of Homeland Security has extended the deadline for REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses multiple times, most recently in late 2022 when the agency moved the implementation date back two years to May 7, 2025.

Homeland Security officials said COVID-19 pandemic-related backlogs have slowed states’ progress in issuing REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses.

Those backlogs are greater in some states where driver’s license expiration dates were automatically extended, or by shifting operations to appointment only.

Should I Just Wait Until 2025?

With the extended deadline now about a year and a half in the future, the temptation to put off getting a REAL ID may be great. But that could mean longer lines and more competition for appointments in places that require them.

Homeland Security officials estimated that by May 2023, the REAL ID compliance deadline before the latest extension, only about 56 percent of the U.S. population over age 18 would have obtained one.

Connecticut has simplified the process somewhat. Residents may use the state's online document assistant to gather their documents, then bring them in to the DMV or a partner site, to receive their new REAL ID in the mail. For all new applications for a driver's license, as well as out-of-state transfers to a Connecticut license, will automatically be issued a REAL ID.