$45 Fee for Travelers Without REAL ID
If you do not have your REAL ID yet, it will soon cost you extra when you go through airport security checkpoints.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced Monday that it will start charging a $45 fee starting on Feb. 1 for people who do not have a REAL ID. That’s up from the proposed $18 fee that was published in the Federal Register last month.
“The fee was necessary because we needed to modernize the system. We needed to make sure that the system is safe,” Steve Lorincz, TSA’s deputy executive assistant administrator for security operations, told ABC News.
Passengers who how up without a REAL ID will have to go through a biometric or biographic system to confirm their identity before they can pass the airport security checkpoint. TSA says the fee will cover the administrative and IT costs associated with the ID verification program.
Acceptable IDs
- REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses or other state photo identity cards issued by Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent)
- If you are not sure if your ID complies with REAL ID, check with your state department of motor vehicles.
- A temporary driver’s license is not an acceptable form of identification.
- State-issued Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL) or Enhanced ID (EID)
- U.S. passport
- U.S. passport card
- DHS trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
- U.S. Department of Defense ID, including IDs issued to dependents
- Permanent resident card
- Border crossing card
- An acceptable photo ID issued by a federally recognized Tribal Nation/Indian Tribe, including Enhanced Tribal Cards (ETCs)
- HSPD-12 PIV card
- Foreign government-issued passport
- Canadian provincial driver’s license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada card
- Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Authorization Card (I-766)
- U.S. Merchant Mariner Credential
- Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC)
See more information here.
