The REAL ID Act of 2005 is a United States federal law that standardized requirements for driver's licenses and identification cards issued by U.S. states and territories in order to be accepted for accessing U.S. government facilities, nuclear power plants, and for boarding airline flights in the United States.
The requirements include verification of the personal information presented when applying for the identification document, security features on the document, and electronic sharing of databases between states. The act also made modifications to U.S. immigration law regarding asylum, border security, deportation, and specific work visas., Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005, United States Congress.
Enacted in response to the September 11 attacks, the provisions regarding identification documents were originally intended to take effect in 2008, but enforcement was repeatedly delayed due to widespread opposition and refusal by many state governments to implement them. Eventually states began to comply in 2012, and enforcement based on the issuing state or territory began from 2014 to 2018 depending on the facility. After numerous extensions, by 2020, all states were certified as compliant, and by 2024, all territories were certified. Enforcement based on the identification documents began on May 7, 2025, and is scheduled to be implemented in phases until complete enforcement begins on May 5, 2027., Minimum Standards for Driver's Licenses and Identification Cards Acceptable by Federal Agencies for Official Purposes; Phased Approach for Card-Based Enforcement, January 14, 2025.
Legislative history In the United States, driver licenses and identification cards issued by the states and territories are widely used as a form of identification. Before the REAL ID Act, each state and territory set its own rules for issuing such cards, including what documents must be provided to obtain one, what information was displayed on the card, and its security features.
In response to the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government established the 9/11 Commission to provide recommendations to prevent future attacks. In its report, issued in July 2004, one of the commission's many recommendations was establishing federal standards for identification documents.The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, U.S. Government Publishing Office, July 22, 2004. Page 390. In December 2004, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA), enacted to implement the commission's recommendations, directed the secretary of transportation to form a negotiated rulemaking committee with representatives from state governments and the Department of Homeland Security, to issue regulations establishing standards for identification documents issued by the states, and prohibited federal agencies from accepting identification documents that did not conform to these standards. § 7212.
In February 2005, less than two months after IRTPA was enacted, the House of Representatives passed the REAL ID Act as H.R. 418, introduced by Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). The bill would repeal the provisions regarding identification documents in IRTPA, replace them with a version that would set the federal standards directly rather than in negotiation with the states, and would make various changes to U.S. immigration law regarding asylum, border security and deportation., REAL ID Act of 2005, United States Congress. In March, the text of the REAL ID Act was appended as a rider on an omnibus spending bill, H.R. 1268, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief 2005, which was passed by the House. The Senate removed the REAL ID Act from the bill, added sections regarding visas for workers, and passed it in April. In May, the conference report merging the bill versions, including the REAL ID Act added by the House and the visa sections added by the Senate, was agreed to by both houses, and the bill was signed into law by President George W. Bush on May 11, 2005. The identification document provisions of the REAL ID Act were codified as a note in 48 U.S.C. § 30301., Notes, Improved Security for Drivers' Licenses and Personal Identification Cards.
Although the title of the law has the term REAL ID in all capitals, it does not provide a meaning for REAL as an acronym. ID is a common acronym for identity document.
Amendments On January 7, 2008, the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007 specified that federal judges could use their court address instead of their residential address on their identification documents for purposes of the REAL ID Act. § 508.
On December 17, 2018, Congress amended the REAL ID Act to remove an outdated reference to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (terminated in 1994) and to clarify that citizens of its successor Freely Associated States (Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau) were eligible for driver licenses and identification cards when admitted to the United States., United States Congress.H.R. 3398 (115th): REAL ID Act Modification for Freely Associated States Act, Govtrack.
On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act, enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, extended the deadline for states to comply with the REAL ID Act to at least September 30, 2021. § 16006.
On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 amended the REAL ID Act to accept electronic versions of identification documents, and to exempt states from requiring applicants to provide documentation of their Social Security number, such as their Social Security card. § 1001. In states that chose not to require such documentation, applicants were still required to provide their Social Security number, which states would verify directly with the Social Security Administration.REAL ID Frequently Asked Questions, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, September 28, 2022. The amendment also repealed federal funds that the original law had provided for states to assist in their compliance.
Provisions Identification documents The REAL ID Act prohibits federal agencies from accepting driver's licenses and identification cards issued by U.S. states and territories that do not satisfy certain standards, for the purposes of accessing federal government facilities, nuclear power plants, and boarding airline flights in the United States. The standards require that: Applicants for an identification document must provide documentation of their full name, date of birth, and residential address; a Social Security number or documentation that they are not eligible for one; and documentation that they are a U.S. national or a foreign national legally present in the United States. The state or territory must capture a photograph of the applicant, store digital images of the documents presented by the applicant, and verify the documents directly with the authorities that issued them. For example, the Social Security number must be verified with the Social Security Administration, and the legal presence of foreign nationals must be verified with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE). The state or territory must confirm that any existing identification document of the applicant issued by another state or territory is terminated; limit the validity of identification documents to eight years; implement background checks and fraud prevention programs for employees issuing identification documents; maintain an electronic database of identification documents issued, including driver histories and violations, and provide access to it to all other states and territories. The identification document must display the person's full name, date of birth, gender, photograph, address, signature, and document number, and must contain security features and machine-readable technology.
The REAL ID regulations, issued by the DHS, clarified some of the verification requirements:, REAL ID driver's licenses and identification cards., Minimum Standards for Driver's Licenses and Identification Cards Acceptable by Federal Agencies for Official Purposes, January 29, 2008. Applicants must provide at least two documents showing their address, but these documents do not need to be verified further. Birth certificates must be verified through the Electronic Verification of Vital Events (EVVE) system maintained by the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS), rather than the authority that issued the certificate. U.S. passports and visas on foreign passports must be verified with the Department of State, but the foreign passports themselves do not need to be verified with the issuing authority.
The system used to share databases of identification documents between states and territories is the State-to-State (S2S) Verification Service, supported by the State Pointer Exchange Services (SPEXS) platform, developed by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) with federal funds. Although the REAL ID Act requires that states and territories share their databases, this requirement was not included in the DHS criteria to certify their compliance.
States and territories are still allowed to issue identification documents that do not satisfy the REAL ID requirements, but in this case, the document must state that it may not be accepted for federal purposes.
Immigration Asylum The REAL ID Act increased the burden of proof for individuals applying for asylum. It authorized immigration judges to require that applicants present evidence for their asylum claim, if available, in addition to their testimony and to determine the credibility of witnesses based on their demeanor, plausibility, and consistency. The law also eliminated the numerical limit on individuals granted asylum, previously set at 10,000 per year.
Border security The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 had provided for improvements to the border barrier near San Diego, with a waiver of two specific environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which could otherwise prevent construction in the area. § 102. The REAL ID Act expanded this provision, allowing a waiver of any laws that could interfere with the construction. Later, the Secure Fence Act of 2006 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 extended this provision to a much longer portion of the Mexico–United States border. § 3. § 564.
Other sections of the REAL ID Act ordered some reports and pilot projects related to border security.
Inadmissibility and deportation The REAL ID Act expanded the grounds for inadmissibility and deportation of foreign nationals based on terrorist activities, including membership in terrorist organizations, endorsement or espousal of such activities, and receipt of military-type training from or on behalf of these groups. It also barred individuals deemed inadmissible on these grounds from challenging their deportation orders through habeas corpus, mandamus, or other petitions for judicial review.Garcia, Michael John, and Ruth Ellen Wasem. "Immigration: Terrorist Grounds for Exclusion and Removal of Aliens." Congressional Research Service, updated July 2, 2008. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc461976/
Work visas The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005, added to the REAL ID Act during its congressional passage, allowed foreign nationals who had an H-2B visa for temporary workers in any of the previous three years to apply as returning workers without counting toward the annual limit of that visa category.