(NEW JERSEY) – Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced Thursday that New Jersey has expanded Real ID appointments, added four more Motor Vehicle Commission agencies for the transactions and eased document rules in a bid to cut long waits for a credential now required for most domestic air travel.

Sherrill and Acting Motor Vehicle Commission Chief Administrator Rosalie Johnson said the state now has 2.5 million Real ID holders out of more than 6 million licensed drivers, after months of complaints that appointments were too hard to get.

“Government should be focused on making life easier for people, and that starts with delivering services efficiently. We expanded REAL ID availability and made it easier for residents to verify their address, helping more New Jerseyans get the services they need. These are common-sense improvements that make a real difference for families across our state,” Sherrill said.

At a press conference at an MVC agency in Trenton, she recalled hearing repeated complaints while campaigning. “I heard stories during the campaign of people who were being told it would be faster to get a passport than to get an appointment for Real ID,” Sherrill said.

Real ID standards came from a 2005 law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Federal enforcement for domestic air travelers began on May 7, 2025, ending the use of standard state licenses at airport checkpoints unless travelers showed another accepted document.

New Jersey’s latest push comes after nearly a year of pressure on residents trying to secure compliant identification for flights and access to secure federal facilities. The state’s compliance rate now stands at nearly 28%, up from 24% in January 2026.

Sherrill said the state issued more than 300,000 new Real IDs in the first four months of her administration, which began on January 20, 2026. May alone produced more than 100,000 issuances, she said.

“The MVC has processed over 300,000 Real IDs during the first four months of the administration, including 100,000 in May,” Sherrill said. “(State average) wait times for appointments are down 73 to 40 days.”

Johnson said the improvements followed a review of appointment patterns, agency operations and complaints from counter staff who handle Real ID applications every day. She said the Motor Vehicle Commission relied on data and front-line input to find where applicants were getting turned away and where slots were being lost.

“They know the process and where bottlenecks are and where we can be more efficient,” Johnson said. “We looked at the data and created goals.”

One of the biggest changes took effect in April 2026, when New Jersey began accepting eligible digital proof-of-address documents instead of insisting on paper copies. Utility bills or bank statements displayed on a mobile device now satisfy the residency requirement if they meet the rules.

Johnson said that shift spares about 7,000 people each month from having to book a second visit after arriving without the right paperwork. Federal law already allowed electronic copies, but the state had continued to require printed documents until the rule change.

“That will improve and that number will grow,” Johnson said. “We encourage people to make the appointment and use all the tools and resources on the website to make first trip successful.”

State figures also show the share of customers who needed another appointment dropped from 15% to 8%, freeing up roughly 6,700 appointments per month. That reduction, combined with more service locations, has helped shorten the backlog that frustrated applicants across the state.

The Motor Vehicle Commission also restored Real ID service at four agencies that had been limited to motor vehicle transactions. Trenton, Springfield, South Brunswick and Medford now handle Real ID appointments, adding about 16,000 more slots.

Johnson framed the expansion as part of a broader operational reset inside the agency. “By expanding REAL ID services to four additional agencies and making smart operational changes, like accepting digital proofs of address, we’re making it more convenient than ever for New Jerseyans to get the services they need,” she said.

Sherrill said she wants the average wait to fall further, to one or two weeks. That would mark another sharp drop from the current statewide average of 40 days, down from 73 days.

Her administration tied that effort closely to Johnson’s appointment. On Jan. 12, Sherrill cited the difficulty of getting timely Real ID appointments when she nominated Johnson, a former Colorado DMV official, to lead the agency.

Johnson previously served for five years as deputy senior director of Colorado’s Department of Motor Vehicles, where Sherrill said Real ID adoption reached 97%. “She’s a national expert on how DMVs are run,” Sherrill said. “The speed has been amazing under her.”

The wait problem had spilled into lawmakers’ offices. State Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, D-Mercer, said drivers had contacted her with concerns about whether they could obtain compliant identification before scheduled trips.

She described one call from a woman who needed a Real ID for a family reunion and feared she would not receive it in time. “It’s important to have access to these resources,” Reynolds-Jackson said. “I’m grateful to partner with MVC to remove the barriers.”

The travel stakes have grown since the federal government began enforcing the Real ID requirement at airport checkpoints. Travelers who arrive without a Real ID or another accepted form of identification face a separate screening process under TSA ConfirmID, a program introduced on February 1, 2026.

TSA Senior Official Adam Stahl said the program carries a $45 charge. “TSA ConfirmID will be an option for travelers that do not bring a REAL ID or other acceptable form of ID to the TSA checkpoint and still want to fly. This fee [$45] ensures that non-compliant travelers, not taxpayers, cover the cost of processing travelers without acceptable IDs.”

That fee applies for each 10-day travel window, making the state’s Real ID push more than an administrative cleanup. A successful application now often means a single MVC visit instead of two, and it removes the need to pay the federal screening fee before a domestic trip.

At airports, Real ID has become the main credential New Jersey residents use to board domestic flights if they are not traveling with a passport or other accepted identification. The card, marked with a gold star, also serves for access to secure federal facilities where Real ID-compliant documents are required.

Sherrill’s announcement places the Motor Vehicle Commission at the center of a practical problem that touches travel, identification and routine state service. The challenge is large: even with 2.5 million holders, more than half of the state’s licensed drivers still do not have a Real ID.

Residents seeking appointment information and document rules can use the [New Jersey MVC Real ID portal](https://www.nj.gov/mvc/realid/). The governor’s office posted the announcement through its [June 4 press release](https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/572026/approved/20260604a.shtml), while federal rules on compliant identification and airport screening appear on the [TSA identification page](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification) and the [DHS Real ID resource page](https://www.dhs.gov/real-id).

Sherrill cast the overhaul in simple terms at the Trenton event, where the state presented the changes as a test of whether government can reduce friction in everyday life. With more agencies processing applications, digital documents accepted at the counter and appointment waits moving down, the Motor Vehicle Commission is trying to turn one of New Jersey’s most complained-about transactions into a single stop before the next flight.