January 22, 2020 / in How To / by Jason Terry
I like to do public service announcements from time to time. I’ve talked to enough people around Kansas City over the past week that haven’t heard about the October 1st deadline for REAL ID compliant driver’s licenses. So I wanted to make sure you were “in the know” and provide a couple of tips on the process since I just went through it.
“REAL ID” comes from the REAL ID Act of 2005, a federal law that focused on fraud protection, anti-terrorism, and driver license and non-driver license identification card (ID card) security. The REAL ID Act established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards. And federal agencies are prohibited from accepting driver’s licenses and ID cards for official purposes from states that do not meet these standards.
Effective October 1st, 2020, you will be required to present a REAL ID, or another form of identification accepted by TSA, to board domestic flights. (A passport will still work.) You will also need REAL ID to access federal facilities, including military bases and federal courthouses.
My thought is you might as well get this done. This could end up being one of those situations where it takes you longer at the airport if you are using a Passport instead of a REAL ID driver’s license.
Here are links to the REAL ID pages for Kansas and Missouri that outline what you need to bring to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). And here are shortcuts to the PDF files for Kansas and Missouri which outline all forms of ID you will need to take.
Download the appropriate checklist for the state you reside.
Get all of those documents together.
Make an appointment for your visit to the DMV. Here is the link for Kansas. I wasn’t able to find a link for appointments in Missouri, but this might be a good starting point.
Take cash. I was charged $8 for a photo fee. If you use a credit card they charge a convenience fee.
Once you check in, watch the “currently being served” monitors carefully. When I checked in at the front desk, my number went up on the board before I even sat down… but there was no lane for me to report to. I waited a bit… my number went away. So I went back to check-in and asked if I was still in line… she said I must not have gone to my lane when called (even though I was never called.) So if you see your number on the monitor with no lane, be sure to get up and talk to someone.
It took me less than an hour to get this done (with an appointment.) I have a temporary license and the new REAL ID compliant license will be mailed to me within 30 days.
That’s it! I recommend you take the time to get your REAL ID compliant driver’s license sooner as opposed to later. There will likely be a mad rush in August and September as the deadline approaches.
And I hope this public service announcement was helpful. Please let me know if it was!
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