Gov. Mikie Sherrill celebrated recent improvements to New Jersey REAL ID accessibility Thursday, acknowledging there is still work to do, in a press conference at the Motor Vehicle Commission office in Trenton.
The REAL ID Act, which was passed by Congress in 2005, set federally standardized requirements for state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards. The act went into full effect nationwide on May 7, 2025, and prohibits all U.S. travelers from boarding domestic flights or entering certain federal facilities without a valid REAL ID or passport.
As of April of last year, New Jersey ranked 49th in the nation in REAL ID compliance, with only about 17% of the population possessing a REAL ID.
“Several months ago, just getting an appointment to get a REAL ID was almost impossible around here,” Sherrill said Thursday. At its peak, wait times for a REAL ID appointment in New Jersey took an average of 73 days, according to the governor.
“In fact, I was hearing stories on my campaign of people who were being told it would be faster to just go get a passport than to get an appointment for REAL ID,” she said. “That’s not acceptable.”
To help more New Jerseyans gain access to REAL IDs, NJ MVC Chief Administrator Rosalie Johnson opened up new MVC offices in Trenton, Medford, Springfield and South Brunswick with the capacity to process REAL ID applications.
Johnson also made the documentation process easier by allowing New Jersey residents to provide proof of residency digitally when they come into a MVC, as improper documentation is the main cause of rejections and rebooked appointments taking valuable REAL ID timeslots.
Since the changes, the agency has increased its compliance numbers significantly, issuing over 100,000 REAL IDs in May alone, the highest monthly number of all time according to Sherrill.
However, even with the new changes, New Jersey residents still struggle with quick access to REAL IDs. Currently, securing an appointment for a REAL ID takes an average of 40 days, a number the governor has promised will decline.
When questioned on what constitutes an acceptable wait time, Johnson responded, “we would love for anybody with any type of appointment at MVC to be able to get in as quickly as possible, within several days of what works best for them.… What we at MVC can control is the accessibility and the ease of getting the REAL ID done in the office, which reduces return visits.”
Out of an estimated 9 million New Jersey drivers, only 2.5 million possess a REAL ID – roughly 27% of the total drivers. Sherrill’s end-goal for REAL ID is that every resident can obtain their ID solely from a walk-in appointment, not a months-long wait.
By Miniya Malone and Devon Williams, NJ State House News Service
