The deadline to get a Real ID has been pushed back yet again to 2025.

This delay means that the state Motor Vehicle Commission has an additional two years to get more people through the process, which has already seen a backlog for appointments.

Shannon and Shea Siegler drove over 50 miles from Jersey City to Lawrence on Tuesday to get Shea a Real ID at the state Motor Vehicle Commission licensing center.

“This is the first appointment that we could get,” Shannon says.

But their trip was a bust. They were missing one of the two forms of address that they needed to get the license. This means that they will have to come back.

The Real ID (or another compliant form of identification) will be required for domestic air travel by May 2025. Federal officials had previously extended the Real ID deadline to 2020 and then to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A spokesperson for the MVC was not available to be interviewed about this topic, but said in a statement, “The extension of the national Real ID deadline until May 2025 will give the MVC more time to issue Real IDs for customers who need or want them. We eagerly await word from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on any potential changes to the Real ID process to make it more efficient and accessible."

New Jersey was one of the last states to offer appointments to get Real IDs, and that was before the pandemic struck. After the pandemic shutdowns, MVC offices reopened to long lines in the summer of 2020. This infuriated Republican lawmakers, including state Sen. Jon Bramnick.

“They made people stand in lines, for a half a mile around the block. And it's not like they're walking around saying, ‘Hey, I'm really sorry, here's what's going on,’” Bramnick says.

Bramnick says he welcomes the two-year Real ID delay.

“That's probably a good thing, because MVC is doing a terrible job,” he says.

Appointments for Real IDs can be made on the state’s MVC website.