Real ID Deadline Delayed One Year Due To Coronavirus Crisis

The deadline for Americans to get a Real ID for travel will be delayed one year, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday.

Residents in the United States will now have until October 1, 2021, to get a Real ID, which allows you board commercial flights and enter federal buildings.

The deadline was moved exactly one year back, from its previous date of October 1, 2020.

"Due to circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the national emergency declaration, the Department of Homeland Security, as directed by President Donald J. Trump, is extending the REAL ID enforcement deadline beyond the current October 1, 2020 deadline," said Chad Wolf, the Act Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement on Thursday.

Wolf went on to add in the statement, "The federal, state and local response to the spread of the Coronavirus here in the United States necessitates a delay in this deadline. "Our state and local partners are working tirelessly with the Administration to flatten the curve and, therefore, we want to remove any impediments to response and recovery efforts."

The announcement from the Department of Homeland Security comes a few days after President Trump recommended the delay to ease the crowding at Department of Motor Vehicle offices, and a week after three Democratic chairman sent a letter to the DHS asking for the Real ID deadline to be delayed.