Hacker News Reader

Comment by rtkwe | Hacker News Reader

Does it cost more for you? My state doesn't charge any more for them you just have to bring the extra documentation which in your case (in my state though I think the requirements are the same everywhere) would be your passport you already have.

View on HN

In my state (CA) I would have to actually show up to the DMV in person (normally you can renew online). That's inconvenient enough I'm never going to do it, if they start requiring "real ID" I'll just use my passport.

If you have to carry your passport around for things other than foreign travel there’s a greater risk of losing it.

I always travel with it, personally. It's useful in other ways too, for example people in rural parts of the US can be weird about out-of-state IDs (I look young...).

They can be weird about them but they can’t deny their legitimacy. Americans do have the right to cross state borders. In other countries during Covid, the ability to cross state/regional borders was denied. It made me appreciate the decisions made when founding the country a lot more.

The problem the GP is talking about isn’t in regards to traveling and being denied. That’s not an issue in the US. The issue they would be talking about is what happens IN the state there traveling. For example a bar in Wisconsin could deny you because they don’t believe a Washington DC ID to be real.

If I'm traveling by air, I usually carry my passport as backup ID--especially after somehow losing my license once between the car and the counter at the airport. My Global Entry card is probably sufficient backup to be honest but I also have backup credit cards etc. anyway.

Global entry card is real ID compliant and a suitable backup. If you lose it, there’s not much somebody can do with it. If you lose your passport though, that’s just a more stressful thing to have to resolve

It cost slightly more for me in CA. And even then I got caught up in the whole DMV documentation snafu even though I brought a dozen identifying documents, so I had to get my REAL ID 3 times over, each at my own expense.

No - the costs are the same for any ID card, the only difference is if you jump through the extra hoops to have them issue a Real ID:

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/driver-licenses-identification...

When I did it, because they fucked up, I had to pay to retest as well which cost an additional $8. I was referencing my own personal experience and that it cost more in actuality.

WA charges extra, also people on non-immigrant visas cannot get them.

> also people on non-immigrant visas cannot get them

Which kinda makes sense as this is intended to be a pseudo-federal ID, right?

Not true, many states give Real IDs to non-immgrants.

Well in WA, we already switched to RealID-compliant driver's license numbers, even for standard licenses. Next time your license is renewed, take a look at your license. I didn't even notice this for months after I got my new one. I was filling out a form and I put down the old one since I had it memorized. You still can't use it to cross borders though.

I'm sure this means we will have RealID-compliant cards as the norm here soon.

You can't use RealID-compliant cards to cross borders anyway, just for TSA and other federal ID checks. You can use EDLs. which are only issued by a few states.

I don't think WA will release RealID-compliant cards, they would have already since, as you mentioned, they implemented other changes to comply with the act like random ID numbers and adding the "not valid for..." text.

Most non-citizens will already have some form of RealID-compliant document, whether it's a foreign passport, green card, etc. Since the only added requirement for EIDs is citizenship, and since most non-citizens have RealIDs anyway, WADOT likely felt there wasn't enough justification to issue 6 different forms of ID to residents.

EDLs/EIDs are Real ID. Standard WA DLs are NOT Real ID compliant. Notice they’re marked with “Federal limits apply”. That means they’re no good for air travel if Real ID goes into effect.

Real IDs are good for land/sea travel for CA/MX.

https://www.dol.wa.gov/about/real-id-faq.html

I literally said all of that, yes. I don’t understand the point of your comment.

It is pretty clear I mean that WA will not issue non-EDL RealID Drivers Licenses given the context. Given that, I clearly know what restrictions exist to current WA DLs given I know what the two options are. I talk about being able to use an EDL but not a RealID document to cross land borders, so I clearly also know what you can use an EDL and RealID in terms of crossing international borders.

Sure, but when I’m traveling as a nonimmigrant anywhere else in the world regardless of how long I’m staying, the only ID they will accept from me is a US passport. This seems reasonably reciprocal with how US citizens are treated abroad

I live in WA, so it (currently) costs $7/year extra for an enhanced drivers license. I'll just have an unreal ID, until the mandate is real for me.

There is an additional benefit with the EDL, which is that you can go up to Canada and back with just the EDL, since it also is proof of citizenship. Whether that is worth an additional $7/year is debatable, but it's similar to the price of a Passport Card, which is equivalent.

Could be useful, if I did that often (or at all, but it is on my list)

It’s more expensive than a Passport book or card. EDLs are only good for 5 years. US Passport is good for 10. WA EDL in 2024 will be $115. A US Passport Book is $130; a card is much cheaper.

I mean, sure, but one is also your drivers license and costs $5/yr more than a standard license or ID.

That’s really the price we should be comparing, because realistically people will have a drivers license or state ID that they would have had to renew. That’s also true for passports, but far more people have and use drivers licenses day to day.

Yeah, any new license or renewal in my state is a real id. I think it costs the same, but I wasn't sure since it was 10 years since the last time I renewed.

Other than the hassle, is there a reason to not get the new id when license renewals come up?

It was barely a hassle when I did it but I also have a certified copy of my birth certificate already so it may be harder for people that have to go get that for the citizenship requirement. The more annoying thing was just finding and printing the address proofs NCDMV wants because most of my bills are digital or in my wife's name now.

My state is the same as long as you're doing it with a regular renewal. I did it last time I renewed my license, because I already had a passport. Even though it certainly seems that it'll never be enforced.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com