Got your paper passport and your Real ID-enhanced driver’s license in hand? It turns out you may not need them at all. Google Wallet soon will store a digital version of your passport in your phone, it said in a blog post late last week (New Google Wallet features for travelers and commuters (blog.google)), just as the TSA pushed back its Real ID requirement to 2027.
TSA PreCheck and CLEAR, along with new digital ID systems from Delta and United, seem to be proving that technology really does work as well as paper in identifying travelers.
“People are increasingly looking for ways to digitize everyday items — with one of the top requests being a digital ID. Last year we began rolling out the ability to save select state-issued digital IDs to Wallet. Starting soon, we’ll begin beta testing a new type of digital ID in Google Wallet, giving more people in more places a way to create and store a digital ID, now with a U.S. passport. This new ID pass works at select TSA checkpoints, saving you time and stress at the airport when you’re traveling domestically,” Google said.
The Google Wallet app is available for Android devices or online at wallet.google.com. (Apple has not yet announced an option for storing passports.)
To create a passport ID, users select the Google Wallet prompt, “Create an ID pass with your U.S. passport,” and then scan the security chip on the back of their passport and upload a selfie video to verify their identity. The digital ID then can be accessed using a fingerprint or passcode.
Meanwhile—and perhaps as a result—TSA proposed delaying Real ID enforcement from May 7, 2025, until 2027 (Federal Register :: Minimum Standards for Driver’s Licenses and Identification Cards Acceptable by Federal Agencies for Official Purposes; Phased Approach for Card-Based Enforcement). The Real ID Act of 2005 required US residents over 18 to present a passport or alternative government-issued ID, such as a Real ID-enhanced driver’s license, to board an airplane, even for a domestic flight.
The new proposal encourages travelers to have Real IDs by 2025, but will allow them to board without it until May 5, 2027.
The goal is to ensure that federal agencies “have appropriate flexibility to implement the card-based enforcement provisions of the REAL ID regulations after the May 7, 2025, enforcement deadline by explicitly permitting agencies to implement card-based enforcement in phases,” according to the proposal’s summary. “This rulemaking proposes that agencies may implement the card-based enforcement provisions through a phased enforcement plan if they determine it is appropriate upon consideration of relevant factors including security, operational feasibility, and public impact.”
In addition to Real ID-enhanced driver’s licenses, 11 US states issue digital IDs that are accepted at TSA security checkpoints in more than two dozen airports (see photo or go to Digital ID Map | Transportation Security Administration (tsa.gov)
Google Wallet already also can save transit tickets for many cities; it recently added Hamburg, Germany, and soon will include Taiwan and Hong Kong.
