TSA Makes Final Ruling on Real ID Requirements at Airport Checkpoints

Photo credit: Eric Bowman

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced a final rule in the Federal Register allowing passengers to use driver’s licenses at airport security checkpoints and in entrances to federal buildings for identification until REAL ID enforcement begins on May 7, 2025.

Effective November 25, 2024, this final rule allows states to apply to TSA for a temporary waiver of certain REAL ID requirements written in the REAL ID regulations. Once approved, those states Mobile Driver’s Licenses (mDLs) will continue to be accepted at TSA airport security checkpoints.

TSA will publish a list of states on its websites where mDLs are approved for federal acceptance. After emerging industry standards and federal guidelines are finalized, TSA will issue a future rulemaking to set more comprehensive requirements for mDLs that will eventually replace waiver provisions established by this rule.

An mDL is a digital representation of a state-issued physical driver’s license that is typically installed through an application on the user’s smartphone and stored in a digital wallet, similar to how many users currently store their physical credit cards on their smartphones.

The information from the digital wallet is read after the smartphone is either tapped against an mDL reader or scanned under the reader to establish the validity of the mDL and a person’s identity.

Currently TSA accepts mDLs issued by 11 states at 27 participating airports and has a goal of accepting mDLs in all airports, by expanding the technology nationwide. Current states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio and Utah.

This article originally appeared in TravelPulse.