REAL ID Problems Women Need to Be Aware of

If you haven’t applied for your REAL ID yet in order to enter federal buildings or board planes and happen to be a woman, then you have your work cut out for you. Men, on the other hand, don’t have the same REAL ID problems as women do. This is a lesson that I learned yesterday when trying to finally get my REAL ID.

REAL ID requirements may differ state by state. When I received the information to renew my driver’s license, the requirements of what documents to bring were listed in their brochure. After I gathered everything together, there was no mention of the need to bring a marriage certificate or having a raised seal on your birth certificate.

Once inside my state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and waiting with my ticket with countless others holding their bags of documents, I finally present the gathered documents to the official. The worker carefully rubbed over the seals, not once but several times until it passed his satisfaction. One hurdle down, he proceeded to the next piece of proof with the social security card along with a driver’s license and vehicle registration or just a utility bill that shows name and address. This was the second hurdle that made it through. Then he comes to the marriage certificate, which at the time was not listed on our state’s website as it does appear now regarding what to bring for REAL ID.

As you can guess, the REAL ID was not in the cards that day. It required rooting through more documents and making another long trip to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. For women, REAL ID causes even more problems if you have been married more once.

Something important women should know is that for each marriage that you took his name means that you may have to get a certified marriage certificate with that raised seal issued by the county court. After this hassle, I can now understand why so many women keep their own names once married.

Speaking of ridiculous problems with the REAL ID, I heard an old gentleman fighting with a worker because he lacked an official birth certificate since he was born at home. How do you handle that? Is this man not allowed to ever fly or walk into a federal building because he lacked the choice to be fortunate enough to have been born at a hospital?

Another older woman was on the other side of where I was trying to explain the reason there were two different forms of her name on her two birth certificates. One was issued with her first and last names while another somehow was issued with her middle name after she made her confirmation. The worker kept shaking his head like it was her fault, but finally let her alone and accepted it.

I don’t know what sort of problem or if you’ll have one when trying to get your REAL ID in your own state, but be on the safe side and just bring more proof than you think you need. I couldn’t understand why people would be toting around a big bag with documents, but can see their logic now.

What will REAL ID require next? Will we need to be chipped like our pets to fly or get into Federal buildings or maybe just for keeping our privilege to vote? You also have to wonder if each state will accept another state’s REAL ID or require yet a new one if you enter a Federal building there.