The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has proposed delaying enforcement of the REAL ID requirement for passengers of domestic airlines to give travelers two more years to update to REAL ID-compliant identifications. The proposal is open for comments until Oct. 15, 2024.

The REAL ID Act was passed by Congress based on the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations. Full enforcement for domestic air travelers was scheduled to go into effect in May 2025. That date likely will be pushed to 2027.

Under REAL ID security regulations, all passengers 18 years and over on domestic airlines would need a REAL ID-compliant identification to board. Although various documents are REAL ID-compliant, the key document became state-issued REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses. Approximately 53 percent of the U.S. population had REAL ID-compliant identifications in 2023 when the deadline was pushed to May 2025. As of now, only 56 percent of the population have REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses. The 2027 deadline likely will be pushed another two years (requiring another rulemaking process), but TSA may take a phased approach.

It appears that many people keep postponing getting REAL ID-compliant licenses because their experience tells them that TSA will keep extending the deadline. To avoid mayhem at airports that could result from full enforcement, TSA likely will propose gradual enforcement starting in May 2025. In the first phase, individuals with non-compliant IDs would be given warnings. Full enforcement would go into effect in 2027.

Other documents that pass the REAL ID test include U.S. passports, DHS trusted traveler cards, U.S. permanent residence cards, federally recognized tribal-issued photo IDs, USCIS Employment Authorization Cards, and certain Canadian documents.

Jackson Lewis attorneys will follow these developments and provide updates as they become available.

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Photo of Forrest G. Read IV Forrest G. Read IV

Forrest Read is a Principal in the Raleigh, North Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has extensive experience in both business immigration law and employment law and has particular focus in legal issues in graduate medical education (GME).

Mr. Read’s immigration practice…

Forrest Read is a Principal in the Raleigh, North Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has extensive experience in both business immigration law and employment law and has particular focus in legal issues in graduate medical education (GME).

Mr. Read’s immigration practice focuses on assisting employers in obtaining employment-based nonimmigrant visas (e.g., H-1B, L, O, TN) for foreign national employees and work-related immigrant (green card) visas, including PERM Labor Certifications, and advising employers on compliance with U.S. immigration laws and regulations. He has broad experience in advising large, mid-size and small employers on their various immigration needs and developing strategies to help them navigate through complex immigration issues. He also has particular experience in counseling employers in the health care industry and addressing immigration-related issues that arise for their broad range of health care professional employees (including advising on and obtaining employment authorization for medical residents and fellows and obtaining J-1 visa waivers for foreign national physicians completing their medical training in the United States). His immigration practice also includes defending employers in connection with Department of Labor H-1B and H-2B investigations.

Mr. Read’s employment law experience includes representing management, particularly academic medical centers in the GME context, in a wide array of workplace disputes and litigation before federal and state courts and administrative agencies, including matters related to discrimination, retaliation, harassment, disability, family and medical leave, various wage and hour issues, contracts, and intentional torts. He advises academic medical centers on the interplay between applicable academic law and employment law and the ramifications of what are divergent legal requirements and standards. Mr. Read also provides counsel with respect to the legal impact of competency standards for residents and trainees in GME, including situations involving discipline, remediation, and dismissal. He provides advice and guidance in the peer review process, including provision of verification and assessment of training in response to third party inquiries.

As a member of the Firm’s Corporate Diversity Counseling group, Mr. Read also has experience in providing assessments and making recommendations to corporate and institutional clients with respect to diversity and inclusion policies and initiatives, conducting related internal investigations, and shaping, developing and enforcing effective policies and initiatives to ensure consistency with client values and in furtherance of business goals and objectives.

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