With deadline looming May 7, state offers special sessions to apply for REAL ID

It’s been more than five years since the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation began issuing REAL ID driver’s licenses and ID cards.

The effort to provide specially encoded cards was ordered by the federal Department of Homeland Security after terrorists used fake IDs as part of the 9/11 attacks. For years, Pennsylvania and several other states resisted the program due to the cost.

Then Homeland Security announced that beginning in October 2020 residents without harder-to-counterfeit REAL ID cards, a valid passport or a military ID would not be allowed through airport security to board planes and would be denied access to many federal buildings and military bases.

The handful of states that hadn’t participated in the program scrambled to set up facilities to produce the cards so residents could meet the new standard. Pennsylvania began issuing the new cards in February 2019.

But that deadline for enforcement has been pushed back several times because states weren’t ready, then the effort to limit personal contact during the pandemic delayed the effort even more.

With the latest deadline now May 7 – with no indication there will be an extension – PennDOT is taking extra steps to make sure everyone who wants REAL ID can get it. That includes a special four-hour session Monday for REAL ID applicants only at the driver license center in McCandless, which normally is closed on Mondays.

Aimee Inama, press officer for the bureau of driver and vehicle services, said PennDOT has been scheduling exclusive sessions for REAL ID only once or twice a month at different locations across the state since October. The special cards are voluntary, but the state wants to make sure everyone who wants one can get it.

When the program began, the state estimated about 2.5 million residents would apply. That’s about how many have been issued so far, Inama said, but there is continuing demand as the deadline approaches.

“We’re still seeing a decent number of people coming in every week,” she said. “We do anticipate we will get more people coming in as we get closer to the deadline.”

If residents aren’t sure whether they will need REAL ID, Inama suggested they use the REAL ID Wizard, a short online questionnaire. That program’s default recommendation is for residents to consider REAL ID.

Monday’s special session will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the license center at 1701 Duncan Ave., McCandless. Residents can apply for the special driver’s license or state ID card at the time and will receive the card by mail in about two weeks.

To apply for the special driver’s license or a state ID card, customers who received their first license or ID card before 2003 must provide an original or certified copy of a birth certificate with a raised seal or a valid passport; proof of a Social Security number such as an unlaminated Social Security card; proof of legal name changes such as a marriage license or an order from family court; and two proofs of a current address, such as a valid driver’s license or ID card and a bank statement or utility bill less than 90 days old.

Anyone who received their first license or ID card after 2003 doesn’t have to provide those materials because the state still has verification on file. They also can apply online.

The cards cost a one-time fee of $30, plus the renewal fee $39.50. If there is still time left on the license or ID card, it will be added to the new card for a maximum of seven years.

Residents don’t have to wait for the special sessions to apply for REAL ID. Any driver license center can process an application any day it is open.

Additionally, the state has 14 centers across the state that can provide same-day over-the-counter service rather than mailing the card to the customer. The REAL ID center with same-day service in the Pittsburgh area is at the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center in South Fayette.

“The most important thing we want to stress is that the deadline is out there,” Inama said. “The card is voluntary, but you never know what life might throw at you.”