State’s Real ID deadline extended again

Oklahoma driver’s licenses will continue to be accepted in lieu of Real IDcompliant identification until at least July 10, the state Department of Public Safety said Monday.

The state’s Real ID compliance extension expires Tuesday, but DPS officials said Oklahoma has been granted a five-week “grace period” while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security continues processing the state’s application for a formal extension.

The application was submitted in mid-April, after Oklahoma enacted the legislation necessary to bring the state into compliance.

Without the grace period, Oklahoma driver’s licenses would not have been valid for admission to federal buildings and installations such as military bases. Enforcement of Real ID for air travel in the U.S. is not scheduled to begin until January.

Passports and passport cards are the principal alternatives to Real ID-compliant driver’s licenses, although some other forms are also acceptable.

Oklahoma’s compliance efforts have been more than a decade in the making, and are likely to take at least two more years to fully implement.

The federal Real ID Act was passed in 2005, following the terrorist attacks of 2001, to standardize identification documents. Oklahoma and many other states, though, refused to implement the act because of privacy concerns.

Oklahoma received several extensions until notified last winter that it must begin implementation. Otherwise, Oklahoma residents traveling by air or entering federal facilities would have to provide identification other than a state driver’s license or identity card.