WORCESTER, Mass. - The Registry of Motor Vehicles, along with the TSA and Massport spent Thursday afternoon telling Worcester travelers about the Real ID deadline. 

Whether you're traveling through the Worcester Regional Airport or anywhere domestically, and the next few months, your license is going to need to have this gold star in the upper right-hand corner. And we talked to the Massachusetts RMV and TSA about what's required to meet the Real ID deadline in May.”

“We're here to promote awareness," Registrar of Motor Vehicles Colleen Ogilvie said. "For the real ID compliance date of May 7, 2025.”

Registrar Colleen Ogilvie said a lot of eligible Massachusetts residents have one, but their goal is to keep boosting the numbers.

“I think our goal is in Massachusetts, 60%," Ogilvie said. "We're at 55%. We have seen over the last two months an increase in about 20,000 - 22,000 people that have opted for Real ID. So, we want to continue to support that, to grow.”

While there will still be other valid forms of identification to board flights, Ogilvie said a big question they’re hearing is, ‘Do I really need a Real ID?’

“It depends on your lifestyle," Ogilvie said. "Do you travel and do you have an active U.S. passport? If you do not have an active U.S. passport and you like to travel domestically? Then certainly the Real ID, might be the right solution for you.”

“If you present a U.S. passport or one of the other acceptable IDs, you're going to be good to go," TSA New England spokesperson Daniel Velez said. "If you present a driver's license and it's not a real ID, that's when you're run into a little bit of an issue, and you may have to provide more information in order to travel that day.”

If you do plan on getting a Real ID, you’ll need to bring two forms of residency and your actual Social Security card when you go to make the switch.

And if you never get the Real ID, Velez said TSA will still get you to your flight, but it could create a lot of delays if you just have a regular license with you.

“The most important thing is we will not be turning people away in droves who don't have the ID," Velez said. "And what we're also doing at many airports right now is if you're traveling before the deadline, you present your identification card and it's not a Real ID, we are handing folks little reminders where they can scan the QR code to kind of tell them about Real ID.”

More information about the Real ID can be found here.