when do you have to have a real id
On December 20, 2013, the Department of Homeland Security announced that implementation of Phase 1 would begin on January 20, 2014, which followed a yearlong period of "deferred enforcement". There are four planned phases, three of which apply to areas that affect relatively few U.S. citizens -- e.g., DHS headquarters, nuclear power plants, and restricted and semi-restricted federal facilities. On January 8, 2016, DHS issued an implementation schedule for Phase 4, stating that starting January 22, 2018 "passengers with a driver's license issued by a state that is still not compliant with the REAL ID Act (and has not been granted an extension) will need to show an alternative form of acceptable identification for domestic air travel to board their flight". Starting October 1, 2020 "every air traveler will need a REAL ID-compliant license, or another acceptable form of identification, for domestic air travel." As of October 2017, 28 states and territories have been certified as compliant, and 28 have been granted extensions or a grace period.