Deadline for Real ID Hawai‘i driver’s license is coming soon to Oʻahu

News Release from City and County of Honolulu, April 7, 2025

HONOLULU – The city’s Division of Motor Vehicles is reminding residents that the deadline for getting a Real ID Hawai‘i driver’s license or state identification card is less than a month away.

Beginning May 7, 2025, every air traveler 18 years of age and older must have a Real ID-compliant driver’s license or state-issued identification card to board domestic flights and enter some federal buildings.

Real ID-compliant cards are generally identified by a star marking in the front, upper right-hand corner of driver’s licenses or state IDs. An estimated 96% of the 664,422 active driver’s licenses in the City and County of Honolulu are Real ID compliant.

“We are encouraging residents to take advantage of the DMV extended Saturday hours at select locations and make an appointment to get a Real ID-compliant driver’s license or state ID,” said Kim Hashiro, director of the city’s Department of Customer Services, which administers DMV services in the City and County of Honolulu.

Required documents for a Real ID-compliant driver’s license or state identification card include proof of U.S. citizenship and two proofs of Hawaii residency. If your name has changed on any of the required documents, you must bring paperwork that supports the name change.

Without the star or seal, the identification document fails to adhere to the minimum security standards set by the federal Real ID Act of 2005, which prevents travelers from flying domestically and from entering certain federal facilities without a Real ID.

The federal Real ID requirement was originally set to take effect in 2020, but was pushed back until May 2025 over backlogged transactions at DMV offices nationwide amid the Covid-19 pandemic. But this time, the deadline is real, which means federal agencies, including TSA will not accept driver’s licenses and state-issued identification cards that are not real ID-compliant.

For more information, visit: www.honolulu.gov/csd

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KAUAI: NR 04-07-25 (REMINDER: REAL ID deadline set for May 7, 2025)