Travelers able to apply for REAL ID at MSP Airport

Right now, more than 85% of Minnesotans do not have REAL ID-compliant licenses. However, applying for REAL ID is becoming easier for those looking to travel.

On Monday, The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Driver and Vehicle Services division opened a REAL ID office inside Terminal 1 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The office is located in the airport's mall area, next to the Prince store.

With the clock ticking, officials urged people to get the process started. DPS Commissioner John Harrington and Metropolitan Airports Commission Chairman Rick King said you'll need to turn in your application by June 15th in order to make the Oct. 1st deadline. After the deadline, a REAL ID will be required to fly domestically and if you don't have one, you won't be able to board a flight.

King said because people need to arrive 2 to 3 hours early for flights, the new Terminal office could be the perfect time to apply to get questions answered in the new office or apply to get your REAL ID. The goal with the new office located inside security at the airport is to make getting your REAL ID even easier.

Officials recommend bringing your pre-application materials with you if you plan to stop by the Terminal 1 office. You can find those forms here.

"This is the first airport in the United States to our knowledge that has opened a Real ID station inside security," King said.

According to DPS, more than 60,000 Minnesotans applied for a REAL ID-compliant card last month. However, more than 4 million Minnesotans still have standard licenses.

DPS advises Minnesotans apply for REAL ID sooner rather than later

"Time is ticking, and it's not going to get better … If you want until October, and think you're just going to go down, and pick one up, the day of your flight, it's just not going to happen," Harrington said.

Since September, the state says there's been a jump from 7% of Minnesotans getting their REAL ID to 13.5%, or about 600,000 people. "But 13.5% means we have a long way to go before we get to 100%," Harrington said.

Governor Tim Walz said he's worried travelers will procrastinate.

"Are we expecting there will be problems? I think we need to be very candid about this," Walz said. "I am deeply concerned about this … I anticipate there could be troubles on this."

It's why Walz, Harrington and King urged Minnesotans to not procrastinate.

"There is just a set amount of time it takes to do all of the paperwork! You can't do it any faster," said Walz.

"We began processing REAL IDs in 2017, and the hope was that people as they were renewing their driver's licenses, they'd jump on the idea of getting REAL ID, and a lot of them basically said, 'I've got 5 years, I've got 3 years, I've got a couple of years before I've got to worry about that,' and that's what they did, they sort of simply kicked the can down the line, waiting, and now the deadline is looming," said Harrington.

And now, the deadline is months, not years, away.

"Right now we are processing applications that are dated back from Jan. 3rd, and we know that it's a complicated process," said Harrington.

That's part of the reason the new airport office was set up.

"This is a place where the 40 million passengers who come through this airport every year, actually spend time waiting … Why not take advantage of the downtime people have," King said.