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A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the number of Oregonians who have been issued a Real ID. That number is 1,384,945. Lookout Eugene-Springfield regrets the error.
Is this for real?
It’s 1:13 p.m., Wednesday, April 30. The walk-in kiosk at the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles office on Valley River Center Road in Eugene says to expect a 3.5-hour wait until I’m called to get my star-emblazoned Real ID driver’s license.
You know, the one I’ll need if I want to board a domestic flight after Wednesday, May 7.
That means I’ll get to the counter with my birth certificate, Social Security card and two pieces of mail showing my current address just before the 5 p.m. closing time.
My ticket says W248. I take a seat among the other 75 or so folks and glance up at the screen on the wall, the one that says the next ticket up is W121 with an estimated one-minute wait time. Good, only 127 people in front of me.
But 20 minutes go by and W121 still hasn’t been called; they’re only calling A220 … A221 … A222 … A as in “appointment.”
There’s a QR code on my ticket. I scan it with my phone. Now the estimated wait time is five hours.
This math isn’t working. It’s now past 1:30 p.m., meaning I’ll get to the counter more than 90 minutes after closing. Whoops.
This is why the DMV has been encouraging, for weeks now, that people make an online appointment to get a Real ID, or any other business that must be conducted in person.
I see a DMV employee answering questions near the information desk. I approach.
“I’m surprised it even gave you a ticket,” she says of the kiosk. “It’s usually shut down by now. Oh, there it goes,” she says, as the kiosk makes a funky noise and flashes something about being done for the day on its screen.
The employee highly recommends making an appointment online.
“They’re scheduling about a month out now,” she says.
Oh …
It’s a good thing I’m not planning to fly anytime soon. I just need a new driver’s license to reflect my current address, but I do plan to fly again, eventually, maybe later this year or next, so I do need a Real ID, which requires documentation that meets a higher federal security standard.
The woman behind me asks if she can make an appointment. Nope, she’s told. Appointments must be made online.
She doesn’t seem to like that answer, quickly exiting out the door she and her partner just walked through 30 seconds ago.
This is the reality of the Real ID dilemma many Americans have dealt with in recent weeks.
If you’re not familiar with why so many of us have switched — or are planning to switch, or just had a switch flipped in our brain while reading this — from a standard driver’s license or other state-issued ID to a Real ID, well, then you might not need one. Maybe you never fly or will just rely on your U.S. passport to get on a domestic flight or to enter federal facilities and military bases starting May 7.
Whatever the case, it’s way too late to get a Real ID if you fly this month, since it takes about three weeks for it to arrive in the mail after the DMV processes your documents and snaps your photo. But, expect to battle for those coveted appointment slots well into the summer, and if you’re still thinking walk-in like my silly self was, maybe try the Oakridge DMV, or take a scenic drive to the likes of John Day or Condon or Heppner in the eastern part of the state.
As of Friday, there were no appointments available at the Eugene, Springfield, Junction City, Cottage Grove or Florence DMVs. The closest available appointments, as of Friday morning, were in Corvallis, at 2:20 p.m. May 15, and Roseburg, at 2 p.m. May 21.
“I suspect that we will continue to see crowds for a couple of months,” said Chris Crabb, a public information officer for the Oregon DMV.
And we’re talking record crowds.
The state’s 58 DMV offices usually see around 45,000 visitors a week, Crabb said. But the offices have averaged about 55,000 folks a week throughout April, a 17 percent increase.
“It’s definitely attributable to Real ID,” she said. “Everyone’s panicking. Or procrastinating. You hear the word ‘deadline’ and …”
It’s not really a deadline, though. It’s an enforcement date, Crabb said of May 7.
“If you’re flying for Thanksgiving, you don’t need a Real ID now,” she said. “Unless you’re flying soon, wait until your credential expires, because it’s an extra $30, so wait.”
The cost of getting a standard driver’s license in Oregon is $54, Crabb said. The $30 fee is standard anytime one applies for an original, renewal or replacement driver’s license, permit or ID card, she said. The fee pays for the additional staff, equipment and time it takes to issue a Real ID, Crabb said.
But why are we even doing this?
You can thank those hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001. They were all carrying U.S. driver’s licenses and state ID cards, according to a story last month in The New York Times. That led to a push for greater national standards for state-issued ID, and Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005, requiring proof of full legal name, residency, lawful status and Social Security number.
And it took 20 years to finally get here? Yep.
In 2007, at least 13 states opposed the ID card, saying it would cost billions of dollars to administer and increase privacy risks, according to a USA Today story.
Such opposition led to repeated delays and then came the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to more delays.
So here we are, battling online for appointment slots, or kidding ourselves by grabbing a walk-in ticket late in the game.
But once you have that appointment, well, piece of cake, Crabb said. It only took her 12 minutes to get her Real ID, she said.
“As long as you have your proper documentation,” Crabb said. “That’s one of the most common mistakes people are making, they’re not bringing their proper documents.”
A birth certificate with your baby feet prints is cute but probably not official, she said.
For those who don’t need a Real ID soon, as in this coming summer, Crabb encourages checking the Oregon DMV website to see if whatever you need is something you can do online.
“We offer a lot of different options for transactions,” she said. “We’re really encouraging people to go online, just until we can get through this Real ID surge.”
Oh, and that appointment I tried to make online once I got home? I received this message:
“There are no appointments available at this time, please check back later.”
But after checking back several times, I finally snagged a spot at the Eugene DMV on June 3.
For real.
Real stats
- 3,719,345 Oregonians either hold a driver’s license or ID card.
- 1,384,945 Oregonians have been issued a Real ID credential representing 37.2% of the credentials held by Oregonians.
- 1,713,313 Oregonians have been issued a non-Real ID credential (marked “Not for REAL ID Act”) representing 46.1 % of the total credentials held by Oregonians.
- 621,072 Oregonians still hold a driver’s license or ID card that is not marked Real ID compliant (star in corner) or non-compliant (“Not for REAL ID Act” in corner) representing 16.7 % of the total credentials held by Oregonians.
Source: Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles.
