Oregon DMV urges air travelers: Get passport card to avoid Real ID backlog

New Oregon driver license with Real ID option not available until July 6

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Attention, air travelers: Something big is happening on Oct. 1 -- and if you aren’t paying attention, it might mean missing your flight out of any U.S. airport, the Oregon DMV warned Wednesday.

On that date, the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, begins requiring a new type of identification to board a commercial aircraft. The new ID must be compliant with something called the Real ID Act.

It’s designed to keep us safer in the air, but if you try to board an aircraft using your current Oregon driver license starting in October – it won’t work. That’s because the current Oregon driver license is not Real ID compliant.

Oregon DMV will begin offering a Real ID option on July 6. To fulfill the demand of nearly one million Oregonians who will want the Real ID option, DMV would have to issue 32 licenses a second every business day from July to October.

"That’s just not possible," the DMV said -- but there's an option to take, now.

If you don’t have a Real ID-compliant form of ID at the airport, TSA will put you through an alternate identity verification process that could take an hour or more, and you could miss your flight.

There is an answer for Oregonians: Obtain and use a passport or passport card. The cost of getting a new passport card is roughly equal to that of getting a replacement license with the Real ID option – and you can apply now at one of over 76 acceptance sites across Oregon.

To find out more, visit https://www.Oregon.gov/REALID.

By the way, Washingtonians already have the option of getting a Real ID compliant driver license. If you are a Washington resident, go to https://id2020wa.com/ to find out more.