As the clock keeps ticking toward the federal enforcement date of October 1, nearly 7.6 million Californians have a REAL ID as of February 29, according to Department of Motor Vehicles data. This is a 448,525 increase over a month earlier when more than 7.1 million Californians had received a REAL ID.
“The DMV has made getting a REAL ID easier and faster. Wait times are down. More people than ever can be served in a DMV office on any given day. Still, not enough Californians are coming in. If this trend continues and people wait until September to take action, lines will be longer, wait times will increase and it will take longer to get a REAL ID in the mail,” DMV Director Steve Gordon said.
Starting October 1, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will require a valid passport or other federally approved document, like a REAL ID driver license or identification card, to board flights within the United States and access secure federal facilities and military bases.
The DMV began tracking the number of individuals who have REAL IDs as a more accurate reflection of the data. Since the DMV started offering the card on January 22, 2018, nearly 8.3 million REAL ID driver licenses and identification cards have been issued, including duplicates and renewals.
DMV offices statewide served more than 1.9 million customers in February, 430,000 more than a year earlier. This includes transactions of all types, including REAL ID. The average wait time in an office during February was 16 minutes for those with an appointment and 40 minutes without an appointment.
The DMV encourages Californians to complete the online application for a REAL ID before they come to the office and to be prepared with the appropriate documents to speed the process for everyone.
To apply for a REAL ID, Californians must visit a DMV office and bring the following documents:
- One proof of identity* – original or certified (examples: valid passport, birth certificate)
*Legal name change document(s) if name on proof of identity is different from the name on the other documents (examples: marriage certificate, adoption papers) - One proof of Social Security number
- Two proofs of California residency – paper copies (examples: utility bill, bank statement)
Visit REALID.dmv.ca.gov for a complete list of acceptable documents and a link to the online application. For a list of all online services, visit: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/dmv/onlinesvcs.
18 comments
I got mine at the Concord DMV. No appointment. I just showed up right after they opened on a Monday morning when there was only a handful of people there and was in and out in 45 minutes. Pretty painless. The DMV people were very helpful.
Thank you to CA DMV for issuing CDL to people W/O a SSN(Per a law passed by the CA Govt. I had to present all of the “REAL ID” info when I got my 1st Driver License back in the 70’s, now I am REQUIRED to do it again… Should I not be grandfathered in? because I already presented those documents! I am a US citizen, Why am I treated like this!!!
Not least bit interested in having one.
Good place to catch Corona 🙁 pass
There aren’t any appointments available to get one. Is this walk in service only for Real ID’s?
The DMV takes walk-ins for everything. If you don’t have an appointment you have to wait longer, but if you get there when they open on a weekday, there is hardly any wait at all, for Real ID or anything else.
The last time I went to the DMV, by the time they opened, there were at least 150 people standing in line.
So this Ima Cardholder…anyone know if she’s single?
she is taken, but, her sister of Ima Tubalard is available.
Thanks for the laugh!!
Don’t fly and no plans to. Don’t travel outside of continental US so no need for a passport. The hassle of getting original birth and marriage certificates just to prove I’m me isn’t worth the time, effort, or expense. I’ll stick to a regular drivers license. Don’t know why certified copies won’t do in the first place which is why they are certified.
Dorothy ~
I hear You,….it was a Hassle!
About 10 years ago I wanted to get a passport for the first time. Getting my birth certificate form the State of California took me 3 months! Then since I had a name change at the age of 16 ( middle name added) I had to get a certificate from the Church too. All in all it took 6 months to process it. My Hubby was from Chicago and it took him only 3 week to get his passport. But we both have are real ID driver licenses now and it was easy.
Wash your hands after using the gas pump.
This & future viruses will help usher in implanted bio-medical chips in every human so world governments can manage pandemics (and us) more efficiently.
Correct. This “pandemic” will lead to further erosion of our rights in the name of safety.
OK, so who wants to 1) wait around in a crowded DMV office or 2) fly while Covid-19 is running amok? What’s the rush?
Wait times are down. Ha. I had an issue with my vehicle registration. It took 3 days off work at the DMV to still not get it resolved. So that’s 3 of the 7 PTO days I earn a year. If you try to make an appointment so it doesn’t take a whole day they are months out if you aren’t lucky enough to catch someone’s cancellation. I have spent nearly half of my yearly vacation days and am now in violation of the law (expired). And we are supposed to trust these people with the new Government surveillance of us in the form of a Real ID? I think not.
I was there this last Saturday at 11:00 and only took about 1.5 hours in total with no appointment. So tell people to stop freaking out.
Comments are closed.