TSA Posts Airport Notices: Travelers From Nine States Cannot Use Their Driver’s Licenses As ID In 2018

TIME Magazine reports:

Beginning Jan. 22, 2018, travelers from nine states will no longer be able to travel with only their driver’s licenses. Residents of Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Washington will have to use alternate ID forms (passport, military ID, or permanent resident card) to pass TSA security checkpoints—even for domestic travel.

On Thursday, the TSA began placing signage around airport security checkpoints to inform travelers of the new rules going into effect in 2018. The IDs from these nine states do not meet the federal government’s minimum security standards. And, according to the REAL ID Act of 2005, federal agencies (like the TSA) are prohibited from “accepting for certain purposes driver’s licenses and identification cards from states not meeting the Act’s minimum standards.”

If the nine states currently on the list change their ID process, the government “may grant extensions or determine compliance for additional states as warranted,” the TSA said in a statement. “TSA will update signage if and when states that are currently listed receive extensions.” Travelers who are not from the nine states will not be affected by the change in 2018. But by 2020, all travelers must have identification in compliance with REAL ID or they will not be allowed through TSA security checkpoints.

Only 24 states currently fully comply with the new standards. Aside from the above-cited nine, the others are expected to meet the 2018 deadline.real1