New York State REAL ID Deadline Delay?: What You Need To Know

May 27, 2025. Yes, I know that date. My wife is reminding me to find our marriage certificate so she can get her REAL ID license from New York State. That will allow us both to be cleared to board federally regulated commercial aircraft, access federal government facilities, or enter nuclear power plants. Not sure why we would ever need to access the latter, but whatever.

As for 'find' the marriage certificate, well, I misplaced it. Oops. But that's not the reason for this article. The reason that you may not be aware of, and may be relieved if you don't yet have your New York State REAL ID license is that the TSA wants to move back the current May 27, 2025 deadline.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) proposal is just to delay full enforcement of REAL ID. until May 7, 2027. The May 27, 2025 deadline would remain for states to be compliant.

The reason is that according to the TSA report: The Department of Homeland Security has noted that "As of January 2024, only approximately 56 percent of DL/IDs in circulation nationally are REAL ID-compliant. In 34 States, less than 60 percent of DL/IDs in circulation are REAL ID-compliant, and in 22 States less than 40 percent are REAL ID-compliant."

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Many have yet to obtain a Real ID license, and that leads the DHS to feel that the public has not made this a priority because of past extensions and that another one may occur. If an extension, sorry, not an extension - a 2-year tailored approach -  does not happen now, it potentially could lead to last-minute surges in demand for REAL ID leading up to the deadline overwhelming states and creating a backlog.

The Department of Homeland Security notes that the proposed plan "recognizes these concerns and would provide flexibility by permitting agencies to, for a period of up to 2 years, implement REAL ID card-based enforcement using a phased approach tailored to their specific operations."

Stay tuned. Or better yet, just get your REAL ID. For a more detailed explanation, visit the Department of Homeland Security/Transportation Security Administration report.