The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced that it will extend the REAL ID enforcement deadline for air travelers another two years, citing pandemic-related delays in states issuing the compliant licenses.

The rule, which would require all air travelers to have a REAL ID to board flights, was set to go into effect on May 3, 2023. It has been extended another 24 months to May 7, 2025.

“DHS continues to work closely with U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories to meet REAL ID requirements,” Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “This extension will give states needed time to ensure their residents can obtain a REAL ID-compliant license or identification card. DHS will also use this time to implement innovations to make the process more efficient and accessible. We will continue to ensure that the American public can travel safely.” 

Once the rule goes into effect, all travelers 18 years and older will require a REAL ID-compliant license in order to pass through TSA checkpoints.

The Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005 and signed into law by then-President George W. Bush, was intended to go into effect in 2008. It has been delayed numerous times for several reasons. Monday's announcement was the third pandemic-related delay of the air travel component.

"The extension is necessary, in part, to address the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ability to obtain a REAL ID driver’s license or identification card," DHS said in a release. "REAL ID progress over the past two years has been significantly hindered by state driver’s licensing agencies having to work through the backlogs created by the pandemic. Many of these agencies took various steps in response to the pandemic including automatically extending the expiration dates of driver’s licenses and identification cards and shifting operations to appointment only."

The law was enacted in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and was a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.