As of May 7th, you’ll need a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or non-driver’s ID card to board a plane. Trish Vincent, Director of the Missouri Department of Revenue, said REAL ID is voluntary, not mandatory. But if you want to travel, you should get one.
“If you are going to use your driver’s license to get on an airplane or go into a federal building or a military installation, you’ll have to have a REAL ID,” she told Missourinet. “Now it’s up to the individual Missourian. If they don’t think they’re ever going to travel, if they don’t think they’re ever going to go to those places…they have options.”
To get a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license, you’ll need to bring in a birth certificate or a passport to verify your date of birth and U.S. citizenship, Social Security card or document, and two documents that verify that you’re a resident of Missouri – such as a utility bill and voter registration. Vincent also said women who’ve undergone name changes will need extra documents.
“For instance, I was married, I’m married, and I changed my last name, right? So, I have to bring in my marriage certificate to show that my last name changed, and it has to be a certified one, just not a copy,” Vincent said. “And if you’re divorced, which I was, I had to bring in my old divorce decree.”
Vincent also said that it does not cost any extra to get a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or non-driving ID card.
As for military ID’s, the Missouri Department of Revenue’s website says the U.S. Defense Department “is in the process of no longer accepting noncompliant marked cards…however, DoD will continue to accept state issued noncompliant unmarked ‘legacy’ cards” until May 7th.”
You can find more information about REAL ID’s in Missouri here.
Source: https://www.missourinet.com/2025/04/14/missouris-real-id-deadline-is-may-7th/
