Originally Posted by
televisor
From what date are TSA likely to actually enforce any ID changes? (I've heard that the REAL ID extensions expire Jan 10th, but at least CA has been granted another extension until October.)
Also, would the enforcement be based on the ID, or the state? So would pre REAL ID id's/licences be accepted if the state now issues REAL ID compliant id's/licences?
I wonder if I'd therefore have a more difficult time travelling on my new CA State ID than on my British passport in future? (As a foreigner I'm pretty much required to carry my passport anywhere I go, but I'm hoping to at least be able to keep it in my bags instead of carrying it in my hand every time I go through the TSA.)
Knowing how TSA works and how the bureaucratic mindset operates, I am willing to bet serious coin that when TSA does start mandating REAL ID compliance, they will continue to accept old, non-compliant licenses from states that promise to meet the standard.
It will go like this: A number of states fail to meet the standard. Those states will be put on a list, and that list will be distributed to TSOs as a memo - refuse licenses from these states. The memo will explain why, but most TSOs won't read it or understand it, they'll only understand that licenses from states on the list are no longer acceptable ID. Licenses from states not on the list WILL be acceptable ID. TSA won't mention anything about old, non-compliant licenses in the memo, they'll just keep it simple (in deference to the IQ of the average TSO) by saying "These states: Not acceptable. All other states: Acceptable."
GE, Nexus, Passport books and cards, and Canadian DLs will also remain acceptable, despite not being REAL ID compliant. And I don't think anybody has ever told them to stop accepting Costco and Sams Club cards.
I don't think this will happen until and unless all 50 states plus the various territories in the US all adopt the REAL ID standard. All of this nonsense about TSA rejecting non-compliant licenses is nothing more than a scare tactic by the feds to try to force compliance on states that don't want to spend the money to completely change their licensing and ID standards.