{"id":520343,"date":"2025-04-16T07:53:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T11:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/?p=520343"},"modified":"2025-04-16T07:54:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T11:54:03","slug":"real-id-in-virginia-when-you-need-it-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/news\/2025\/04\/16\/real-id-in-virginia-when-you-need-it-and-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Real ID in Virginia: When You Need It, and Why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Time\u2019s getting tight for Virginians who need a Real ID driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The federal government\u2019s deadline for getting one of the enhanced licenses is May 7, and after that you won\u2019t be able to show a non-Real ID license at any U.S. airport to get on a domestic flight, or to get into some federal facilities including military bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can start the application process <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmv.virginia.gov\/licenses-ids\/real-id\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">on the Virginia DMV website<\/a>, and but you have to finish up by bringing the required documents and the $10 fee to a DMV customer service center. You can find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmv.virginia.gov\/locations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DMV locations<\/a> on the agency&#8217;s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Proof of identity and legal presence in the country. (Your current driver\u2019s license won\u2019t cut it \u2014 you&#8217;ll need a passport or a U.S. birth certificate.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your Social Security number (on your Social Security card or a W-2)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Two forms of proof of residency. (Acceptable forms include your current Virginia driver\u2019s license, a recent utility bill, a mortgage, or rental lease agreement.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If your name on your documents is different from your legal name \u2014 for example if you changed your name after getting married or divorced \u2014 you\u2019ll need proof of the name change, too, on a marriage certificate or divorce decree.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>None of these documents can be photocopies, the DMV warns; they all have to be originals except for the residency documents, which can be printouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The DMV said last week that the 59 percent of all active Virginia driver&#8217;s licenses and IDs were Real ID\u2013compliant as if March, which still leaves a large number of people who still need to upgrade their license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some other forms of identification the TSA will accept after May 7, including a passport; you can check the list on the Virginia DMV\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmv.virginia.gov\/licenses-ids\/real-id\/faq\">Real ID FAQ page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Featured image, stock.adobe.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deadline to get a Real ID Virginia driver&#8217;s license is coming up, and you won&#8217;t be able to fly domestically with the old-style license.","protected":false},"author":1002096,"featured_media":488539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Real ID in Virginia: When You Need It, and Why<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 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