U.S. again delays deadline for Real IDs, until May 2025

Homeland Security sign for REAL ID at entrance to passenger TSA security area, West Palm Beach, Florida.

The enforcement of a rule requiring people to get new identification cards to board domestic flights is being delayed for two more years.

The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that the Real ID Act won't be in effect until May25. The rule was supposed to take effect in May.

The agency attributed the delay to the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Pandemic made it harder for people to get licenses that are Real ID compliant.

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Real ID Act was passed to make it harder for terrorists to get driver's licenses and other identification cards. There is a star in the right-hand corner of a driver's license.

The extension will give states time to make sure their residents have Real ID compliant licenses. The Department of Homeland Security will use this time to make the process more efficient and accessible, according to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas.

The Real ID rule has been delayed many times. The deadline was pushed back from October 2020 to October 2021. The deadline never arrived and officials pushed it back again.

The DHS has a new date on it's website.