Some Minnesotans who applied for a REAL ID in April are getting them now

Minnesotans who applied for a Real ID before the May 7 deadline may be just receiving their identification cards in the mail now. Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services told MPR News last week that they have finally finished processing all Real ID applications submitted before May.

DVS director Pong Xiong said that in the past few years, the department had done community outreach to inform Minnesotans about the implementation of Real IDs.

“There really wasn’t a lot of rush or any sort of urgency that we were sensing from customers as we were having conversations with them,” Xiong said.

Then in March, DVS received double the amount of normal applications. In April, it was three times the typical number.

“The increase on its own was not surprising, but the actual numbers that we saw were a little bit more than what we were expecting,” Xiong said. 

Due to the high volume of applications, the current estimated wait time for any new Real ID applications will be 60 to 90 days.

Former President George W. Bush signed the Real ID Act into law in 2005, following 9/11. Its goal was to standardize the security requirements to issue identification like driver’s licenses or identification cards. However, enforcement has been delayed for almost two decades due to a lack of funding, state opposition and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

After many extensions, the Department of Homeland Security announced that May 7 would be the Real ID full enforcement date. After May 7, TSA would no longer accept driver’s licenses or state-issued IDs that were not Real ID-compliant as a form of identification for adults at airports and federal buildings. Minors do not need IDs to fly domestically.

According to the TSA website, those traveling without a Real ID or other accepted form of ID may be asked to complete an identity verification process or be subject to additional screening.

TSA has not specified what the additional screening might entail. However, flyers in the U.S. have written on social media posts that they have been able to fly domestically with a drivers license that is not Real ID compliant. Many said that they had to go through some quick additional screening, like swabbing their hands for explosives or getting patted down. 

In some other states with population sizes similar to Minnesota, residents are not experiencing the same delays in receiving their Real IDs. According to the Maryland Department of Transportation, Real IDs are delivered within seven business days. In Missouri, it’s seven to 15 days, according to Missouri Department of Revenue spokesperson JoDonn Chaney. 

Some states with the highest Real ID compliance rates, like Colorado and Maryland, have long defaulted to encouraging anyone applying for or renewing a driver's license to get a Real ID. This means that many residents have been switching over to Real IDs for years. In Minnesota, residents are asked to choose which kind of ID they would like — making it easier to opt out of the program. 

That’s also the case in Missouri, where around 50 percent of residents have a Real ID as of this month, Chaney said. However, the state is also not currently experiencing a delay in processing Real ID applications. As of Aug. 1, DVS reports that 45 percent of Minnesotans have a Real ID.

DVS is still encouraging Minnesotans to apply.

In a written statement to MPR News, DVS spokesperson Erin Johnson said, “We encourage anyone who wants a REAL ID to apply for one … If you don’t have an urgent need for a REAL ID, we encourage applying when it works best for you.”

Xiong said there are ways to simplify the application process. 

“We strongly encourage folks to use the pre-verification process, because … they can take the documents that they will plan to use for their application, submit them in advance to us, we will validate them in advance,” he said.

He also suggested that for those who cannot get a Real ID due to issues with paperwork, they can explore other forms of identification. For example, TSA accepts passports, permanent resident cards, photo IDs issued by federally recognized Tribal Nations, Veteran Health Identification Cards, and U.S. Department of Defense IDs including military IDs.