Distribution of Real IDs in V.I. on Hold as Deadline Looms

Thousands of V.I. motorists have until May 7 to obtain a national Real ID identification. The head of the agency responsible for issuing the cards is advising the public they may experience delays in the process.

That’s because the Motor Vehicles Bureau is one of several agencies nationwide waiting on manufacturers to produce and deliver new driver’s licenses and ID cards, said BMV Director Barbara Jackson-McIntosh. The volume of new issues on order all at once is creating a backlog that may lead some applicants to miss the May 7 deadline, McIntosh said.

The bureau’s director added that it is currently in talks with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Homeland Security Department to keep them updated on the agency’s progress. “We had a meeting with TSA and Homeland Security two weeks ago to talk about our concerns here. We were assured that by March of this year they will be able to get back to us,” the director said.

Production delays for the new V.I. license design and continued talks with federal partners have led the BMV to pause Real ID distribution.

Real ID was mandated after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York when investigators found that conspirators who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center held multiple fake ID cards while hatching their plot on the U.S. mainland. More than 3,000 people died in that attack. The Real ID Act of 2005 was enacted to create more reliable documents and to mandate states and territories to use stricter procedures for issuing those documents. To date, 51,084 of the 73,013 motorists holding V.I. licenses have obtained Real ID cards. An additional 4,028 of the 11,395 persons holding BMV-issued identification cards have Real ID.

“After the 9/11 Commission, the Real ID was created as a recommendation by the commission that states participate in this program that if you put a star to the top-right of the driver’s license, it tells another state or territory that you have gone over and above — and beyond — to verify that the documents handed to you by the customer,” McIntosh said.

Driver’s licenses are commonly used as identification for domestic air travel. However, McIntosh noted that travelers from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the mainland often face added scrutiny due to departing from the islands.

That, she said, makes the Real ID an important card to carry while traveling, although the director adds she has heard stories of TSA officers questioning the document. McIntosh is hoping that continued talks with federal agencies will make the process smoother.

“We have changed our driver’s license, we have changed the design of the license, we have changed the security features within the license so that it would be easier for persons traveling through the airports – that there will be no issues,” she said. “We sent it to them so they will be able to process, review, approve and upload it into their data library,” the director said.