The deadline to get a REAL ID is fast approaching after years of postponements.
Starting Wednesday, your license or identification card will need to be REAL ID-compliant to fly domestically in the U.S. and to enter certain facilities with strict security standards. The federal government has bumped back the REAL ID deadline several times over the years, but not this time, and that’s caused a scramble at the Michigan Secretary of State’s office with customers lining up for those enhanced licenses.
To get a REAL ID, you’ll need a birth certificate or passport, something Berrien County Clerk Stacy Loar Porter tells us her office can help you get.
“We have been busy,” Loar Porter said. “A lot of people have been coming in to get copies of their birth certificates and their marriage licenses, which are two of the documents necessary to get your REAL ID at the state of Michigan Secretary of State’s office.”
Loar Porter says anyone who’s changed their name as a result of getting married will need that marriage license to prove it.
“If you get married in Berrien County or filed for your marriage license in Berrien County, we can get you a copy of that. Sometimes, people need divorce papers as well if their name changed and it went back. So sometimes people need copies of their divorce papers, which we can also get for you if the divorce was filed for in Berrien County.”
Loar Porter says the fee for either a birth certificate or a marriage license is $13. If you need more copies, there’s an additional cost. Her staff can usually get you what you need within about 15 minutes, and an appointment is not needed.
Loar Porter says once you’ve got your documents, it’s time to head to the Secretary of State to get the REAL ID.
