New Yorkers may soon need passports for domestic travel

The Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005 to help combat terrorism by standardizing personal identification, has requirements for driver’s licenses that New York has failed to meet, according to a recent Time report, which explained that New York either fails to provide enough anticounterfeiting measures or screening during the application process.

“Whatever the current requirements are, apparently, to get your driver’s license, it’s insufficient as far as the Department of Homeland Security is concerned to be able to battle against terrorists possibly getting fraudulent IDs and getting onto planes,” said AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair in a related CBS New York report.

New York joins three other states that issue licenses deemed unreliable: New Hampshire, Minnesota and Louisiana.

The precise date when driver’s licenses from these states will no longer be allowed as travel-worthy identification has yet to be confirmed, according to the Time article.

The New York DMV requested an extension to the Real ID Act, stating that it has “no reason to believe that any New Yorker will have a problem using their current state-issued ID card to get on a plane come January 2016,” reported CBS.

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Since 2008, New York has offered “enhanced driver’s licenses” which cost an extra $30 but meet the Real ID Act’s standards.

“To get the new enhanced driver’s license, requirements include proof of identity, proof of Social Security number, proof of New York state residency, proof of date of birth and proof of U.S. citizenship,” Sinclair was quoted by CBS.