Washington travelers can use ID at airports until October 2018
Dec 28, 2017, 4:13 PM
(KIRO 7)
(KIRO 7)
Washington state travelers are getting another grace period to use their IDs at airports despite being out of compliance with federal regulations.
Washington residents can use their state-issued IDs to travel through airports until October 2018, Business Insider reports. The previous deadline set by the Transportation Security Administration was Jan. 22, 2018.
RELATED: New Washington licenses still don’t meet federal regulation
“Washington state residents who are trying to do a domestic flight using their Washington state driver’s license have just gotten a reprieve,” said travel expert Steve Danishek. “Washington state was out of compliance with the federal REAL ID law. They were given until January 22, 2018 to get either an enhanced driver’s license or a passport to board domestic flights.”
But that deadline has been pushed back. It’s not the first time TSA has delayed the deadline for states to come into compliance with the REAL ID Act. It was initially passed in 2005, but the deadline for states to come into compliance has been adjusted ever since. While Washington’s driver licenses meet state standards, they fail to meet the federal requirements. That means, eventually, travelers will not been able to use a Washington ID to travel through airports. They will have to use a passport.
Most recently, states were given until October 2017 to come into compliance with the REAL ID law, but that was delayed until the Jan. 22, 2018 due date — which has now, in turn, also been pushed back to October 2018.
“This is a surprise because Washington state had been out of compliance for years along with several other states … so we anticipated that the deadline would apply,” Danishek said. “This was a little bit unexpected. It’s going to apply to all 50 states, not just the ones out of compliance.”
Washington is among nine states that are not in compliance with the REAL ID Act, including: Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
