Pa. residents can pre-register for Real ID cards on Sept. 4
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will hire 250 additional workers to help process paperwork from residents seeking REAL ID cards, which become available in March.
The department announced Monday that pre-registration will begin next Tuesday for residents who received their first driver’s licenses before September 2003. Beginning in October 2020, a REAL ID card, which is harder to forge, or a valid passport will be required to enter most federal buildings or to pass through airport security.
Obtaining the card is voluntary and those who have a passport or don’t expect to use federal buildings or airports do not need REAL ID.
Residents with driver’s licenses or ID cards issued after 2003 have been able to pre-register online since March because PennDOT still has proof of their identification.
Kurt Myers, the department’s deputy secretary for driver and vehicle services, said the department’s goal is to get as many people as possible to pre-register so that when the cards become available in March, those customers
can go online to pay their fee and obtain the new card. Nearly 200,000 have pre-registered so far, he said.
“What we want to do is reduce the number of times people have to go to the license center,” he said. “People who pre-register only have to go to the website after that to pay the fee and get their card by mail.”
Those who want a card and received their license or ID card before September 2003 must provide proof of identity such as an original or certified copy of a birth certificate with a raised seal or a valid passport; proof of a Social Security number such as an unlaminated Social Security card; proof of legal name changes such as a marriage license or an order from family court; and two proofs of current address such as a valid driver’s license or ID card and a bank statement or utility bill less than 90 days old.
Customers can take those items to any driver’s license center, where staff will copy the documents.
When the cards are available in March, they will cost $30 plus a license renewal fee of $30.50 for a non-commercial license or ID card. The REAL ID card will include whatever time is left on a current license or card plus four additional years, or two years for someone over age 65 with a two-year license.
Those who haven’t preregistered will be able to take their documents to a license center beginning in March, and have their REAL ID mailed within seven to 10 days or go to a REAL ID center and have it issued over the counter. PennDOT is in the process of retrofitting existing license centers as REAL ID centers in Williamsport, Wilkes-Barre, Rockview, Erie, Altoona and Philadelphia and will have additional free-standing locations in Pittsburgh, King of Prussia, Allentown, Harrisburg and Lancaster.
The Pittsburgh area location will be at 1025 Washington Pike (Route 50) in Bridgeville, near the regular license center. The REAL ID centers must provide more security than driver’s license centers to meet federal standards.
The state expects about 25 percent of the 10.7 million people with driver’s licenses or ID cards to want REAL ID.
“We want to make sure that someone who has an extenuating circumstance and doesn’t already have a REAL ID card can go to one of these centers with their documents and walk out with their card the same day,” Mr. Myers said.
The state is under an extension from the federal Department of Homeland Security to meet the REAL ID standard until mid-September but it expects to receive another extension as long as it is making progress on the program. The state resisted REAL ID for more than 10 years but agreed to comply when federal officials threatened to refuse to let residents in most federal buildings or pass through airport security.