Can NJ Motor Vehicle Commission handle Real ID demand?

With the federal Real ID program launching in less than two months, New Jersey residents looking to upgrade their licenses may be running into some problems.

Despite launching a “Real ID Thursday” initiative to make more appointments available, the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission currently has no appointments available for residents in any county north of Monmouth County before Real ID takes effect on May 7.

That includes appointments at physical agency locations as well as MVC's mobile unit.

The only appointments for any kind of upgrade available at agency locations as of Thursday — about 50 slots — were at the mobile unit site in Lawrenceville or at locations in the southern half of the state — for those who have licenses expiring within the next three months and are trying to upgrade.

Agency spokesperson Bill Connolly said the "demand for Real ID now is extraordinarily high ahead of the start of federal enforcement in May."

"The MVC has repeatedly added and reallocated appointments to better meet that demand over the past several months," he said, noting that “Real ID Thursdays” added more than 43,000 appointments and more mobile unit appointments will be available as the agency coordinates with local hosts. The opportunity to book these additional appointments started last week.

Connolly also said about 3,000 new appointments for Real ID upgrades are added each business day at 7 a.m. and that "appointments are regularly added as customers cancel or modify their appointments."

"While the MVC is processing record numbers of in-person transactions, especially Real IDs, we will continue to evaluate our operations and look to offer additional opportunities for our customers to get a Real ID," he said.

The next appointment at each of the 28 licensing centers for those looking to upgrade and have a license or identification card expiring in the next three months as of Wednesday evening were:

According to the TSA, as of January 2024, only about 56% of the licenses and government issued identification cards in use around the country comply with Real ID. In 34 states that number is less than 60% and in 22 states is less than 40%.

In order to get a Real ID, residents should check REALID.nj.gov to make sure they bring all the required documents — two proofs of residential address, one verifiable Social Security number and identity documents that add up to six Real ID Points — to their appointment.

The state started issuing the Real ID in September 2019. The deadline was initially October 2020 but was pushed back to October 2021 due to the pandemic. The federal government opted to push it back again to May 2023, as new COVID-19 variants continued to wreak havoc on motor vehicle agencies throughout the country. In 2022, officials delayed it a third time, to May 2025.

After the deadline, standard driver's licenses or non-driver identification cards can no longer be used to fly within the U.S. A passport is also a valid form of identification for domestic travel.

No one is required to get Real ID. A standard driver's license or non-driver identification card can still be used to drive in New Jersey, but it will no longer be a valid form of federal identification. Passports can be used as identification when flying domestically.

The REAL ID Act, which was enacted following the 9/11 Commission's recommendation, established minimum security standards for state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards for the purpose of boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft, accessing certain federal facilities and entering nuclear power plants.

Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: [email protected]