A Passport Required to Fly Within the USA?

Will US citizens soon need a US Passport to fly domestically in the USA?

Well maybe. The reason? The Read ID Act and it’s set to go into full effect sometime in 2016.

The Real ID Act was enacted on May 11, 2005. It was an Act of Congress that modified U.S. federal law pertaining to security, authentication, and issuance procedures standards for the state driver’s licenses and identification (ID) cards, as well as various immigration issues pertaining to terrorism

The law sets forth requirements for state driver’s licenses and ID cards to be accepted by the federal government for “official purposes”, as defined by the Secretary of Homeland Security. The Secretary of Homeland Security has currently defined “official purposes” as presenting state driver’s licenses and identification cards for boarding commercially operated airline flights and entering federal buildings and nuclear power plants, although the law gives the Secretary the unlimited authority to require a “federal identification” for any other purposes that the Secretary shall determine.

The Real ID Act has 4 parts to it. The timeline for Phase 4, which applies to boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft, will be determined after DHS conducts an evaluation of how the first three phases were implemented. To “ensure that the public has ample advanced notice”, DHS says that Phase 4 will not be implemented before January 1, 2016. As of July 2015, 23 states or territories are compliant, 28 have been granted extensions, and five are non-compliant.

If you have a drivers license from one of the 5 non-compliant states then yes, you would need a passport or some other form of approved ID to travel such as a Passport or a Military ID. Those states or territories currently are: American Samoa, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New York.

New York does offer an enhanced drivers license which does qualify but less than 4% of New Yorkers have such as drivers license.

As of July 2015, the following states and territories are in compliance:

Alabama Colorado   Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii

Indiana Iowa Kansas Maryland Mississippi Nebraska Nevada Ohio

South Dakota Tennessee Utah Vermont West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

The following states and territories have filed extensions:

Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Guam   Idaho Illinois Kentucky Maine Massachusetts

Michigan Missouri Montana New Jersey New Mexico North Carolina   North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Oklahoma

Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico   Rhode Island South Carolina   Texas US Virgin Islands Virginia Washington

The following states and territories are noncompliant (New York and Minnesota offer Enhanced Driver’s Licenses):

American Samoa Louisiana Minnesota

New Hampshire New York

So when will Phase 4 be enforced?

No firm date has been set. TSA indicates it will be sometime after Jan. 1, 2016.

We will post the news here as soon as we hear and be sure and also friend our Facebook Page and as soon as we find out we will post it there and here on our website.