A brand new lane has just opened up across a number of airports for this new update to your ID. With the world currently sitting in an age of digitization, online and digital copies of documentation are becoming increasingly more common, almost to the extent that physical hard copies of documentation are at a growing risk of being phased out. With the recent REAL ID certification deadline taking center stage in terms of ID news, you may not be aware of this new opportunity for digital IDs.
REAL ID deadline finally arrives
This year, the biggest change to your ID was the arrival of the REAL ID deadline, one that has been persistently pushed back for the last twenty years. The REAL ID Act was passed in 2005, following the terrorist acts of 9/11. This was done as, according to the concluding investigation by the 9/11 Commission, it was advised that identity documentation across needed to increase consistency to tighten homeland security. Because there were no controlled standards for identity documents at the time, ID documents across states all varied widely from one another, which made creating a counterfeit identity document much easier.
Thanks to these recommendations, the federal government decided to require all identity documents needed to become REAL ID certified to create a more standard approach to security features across differing state identity documents. You must ensure that your identity documents, such as your driver’s license, are REAL ID certified if you want to enter the following facilities:
- Accessing certain federal facilities;
- Boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft; and
- Entering nuclear power plants.
The deadline to have your identification documents certified was May 7 this year, after a long battle with state authorities to start requiring their citizens to get REAL ID certified. You can tell if an ID is REAL ID certified or not by locating a star in the upper corner of your identity card.
A new airport lane has just opened for these IDs
While the REAL ID certification process has been making headlines regarding identity cards, other changes that are currently underway regarding this documentation include the increased digitalization of these cards. More states are beginning to roll out pilot programs and passing legislation in order to allow their residents to start using digital licenses for increased convenience and efficiency.
Now, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has recently announced that they have expanded its digital identification acceptance program to include these mobile driver’s licenses and digital state IDs from 16 states at more than 250 TSA checkpoints as part of its overarching plan to implement and transform security screening through biometric technology integration.
More streamlined process with digital REAL IDs
With the new expansion, at certain locations, you can now present your digital or mobile ID at TSA checkpoints instead of your physical one. While it is still recommended that you carry a physical ID with you, the digital presentation is intended to make the process more streamlined as TSA begins to implement a more robust digital and facial recognition technology.
“With a mobile driver’s license (mDL) or ID pass stored in your phone’s digital wallet or in a third party app, you can breeze through more than 250 TSA checkpoints faster and more securely than ever before,” describes TSA on their website.
You must ensure that if you want to use a mobile or digital ID at these checkpoints, they are REAL ID-compliant. Additionally, digital IDs are only open to those who are U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and certain foreign nationals under specific programs. Currently, the only states with active mobile ID programs are Arizona, California, Colorado, New York, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Iowa, New Mexico, Maryland, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
