My parents have been in the process of getting both their REAL IDs and their passports (they prefer the REAL IDs for domestic travel and have multiple trips booked this coming year). It has been *busy* already with the REAL ID requirement coming up soon, and both of them have had to take hours off from work, travel to different towns, an…
My parents have been in the process of getting both their REAL IDs and their passports (they prefer the REAL IDs for domestic travel and have multiple trips booked this coming year). It has been *busy* already with the REAL ID requirement coming up soon, and both of them have had to take hours off from work, travel to different towns, and forked over a good amount of money, and of course those documents themselves take time to process. Any slight hiccup with your paperwork will cause delays and require yet more effort; my mom had to try for the REAL ID *twice* because she didn't have adequate documentation of her married name change the first time (and now she gets to help my dad because he also legally changed his name as an adult). My mom's mom was an immigrant, which was an extra layer of documentation needed (the forms ask if your parents were citizens or not) and I don't know, but I have to imagine that all of this is complicated if you yourself are an immigrant.
Is it worth the effort? Sure! Is it an understandable amount of effort? Kinda! But it is still a big effort even for folks with the free time, money, and intellectual/physical abilities to get through this easily.
That is nuts! I still haven't gotten a Real ID. When it was announced, I was really annoyed by all of the requirements and basically have just refused to do it on principle. I figured that I have a passport, and I will use that. It seemed redundant to me and a lot of extra work. I do see the benefit, like you mentioned for ease of domestic travel though. I am also in a state that has the Enhanced ID which is what my mom got.
I personally opted to just get a passport and use it for both domestic and international, but my parents don't feel as comfortable carrying their passports around if they don't need to, so I understand their perspective as well!
My brother lives in Kentucky and got his REAL ID a couple years ago. He says it has been *nothing* but frustrating every time he's flown domestically. Something about his picture on the ID not 'matching' when they scan his face biometrically? He basically has to budget an extra 20-30 minutes at each flight check-in and he's considering just getting a passport to see if that would be easier! So all that to say, these documents are kind of a pain in the patooty to both obtain and to use.
My parents have been in the process of getting both their REAL IDs and their passports (they prefer the REAL IDs for domestic travel and have multiple trips booked this coming year). It has been *busy* already with the REAL ID requirement coming up soon, and both of them have had to take hours off from work, travel to different towns, and forked over a good amount of money, and of course those documents themselves take time to process. Any slight hiccup with your paperwork will cause delays and require yet more effort; my mom had to try for the REAL ID *twice* because she didn't have adequate documentation of her married name change the first time (and now she gets to help my dad because he also legally changed his name as an adult). My mom's mom was an immigrant, which was an extra layer of documentation needed (the forms ask if your parents were citizens or not) and I don't know, but I have to imagine that all of this is complicated if you yourself are an immigrant.
Is it worth the effort? Sure! Is it an understandable amount of effort? Kinda! But it is still a big effort even for folks with the free time, money, and intellectual/physical abilities to get through this easily.
That is nuts! I still haven't gotten a Real ID. When it was announced, I was really annoyed by all of the requirements and basically have just refused to do it on principle. I figured that I have a passport, and I will use that. It seemed redundant to me and a lot of extra work. I do see the benefit, like you mentioned for ease of domestic travel though. I am also in a state that has the Enhanced ID which is what my mom got.
I personally opted to just get a passport and use it for both domestic and international, but my parents don't feel as comfortable carrying their passports around if they don't need to, so I understand their perspective as well!
My brother lives in Kentucky and got his REAL ID a couple years ago. He says it has been *nothing* but frustrating every time he's flown domestically. Something about his picture on the ID not 'matching' when they scan his face biometrically? He basically has to budget an extra 20-30 minutes at each flight check-in and he's considering just getting a passport to see if that would be easier! So all that to say, these documents are kind of a pain in the patooty to both obtain and to use.