REAL ID Act and Access to Federal Facilities
 

An email from Robert Raimond dated July 15, 2014 states,

Effective July 21, 2014, all US Government Agencies are required to adhere to the Federal REAL ID Act phase two requirements for access to Federal facilities. The Act will impact Visitors to NASA facilities using state-issued ID to access the Center. Only driver's licenses or identifications cards from states that meet REAL ID standards may be used for Visitor access. Current noncompliant states and territories whose driver's licenses do not meet the Real ID standards are: Alaska, America Samoa, Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, and Washington State. Visitors with driver's licenses from these states will be required to present an alternate form of identification for unescorted access.

In addition to Real ID complaint driver's licenses, other acceptable forms of identification for access include Federal employee badges, passports, or military identification cards. Three states that are non-compliant (Minnesota, New York and Washington State), do offer an Enhanced Driver's License (EDL) to some of their residents that travel to Canada and Mexico. These EDL licenses [bear] an American Flag on the face of the license and are acceptable for unescorted access. Visitors without acceptable identity documents will require an escort in order to obtain access to the facility.

Just to reemphasize that acceptable forms of stand-alone identification for unescorted access include Real ID complaint driver's licenses, EDL Licenses, other Federal employee badges, passports, and military identification cards. High School and University Photo identification is only acceptable for unescorted access when presented with any valid document from Schedule C of the I-9 Form. These Schedule C documents include:

  • U.S. Social Security account number card that is unrestricted
  • Certification of Birth Abroad issued by the U.S. Department of State (Form FS-545)
  • Certification of Report of Birth issued by the U.S. Department of State (Form DS-1350)
  • Original or certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a state, county, municipal authority or outlying possession of the United States bearing an official seal
  • Native American tribal document
  • U.S. Citizen ID Card (Form I-197) Identification Card for Use of Resident Citizen in the United States (Form I-179)
  • Employment authorization document issued by DHS. Some employment authorization documents issued by DHS include but are not limited to the Form I-94 issued to an asylee or work-authorized nonimmigrant (e.g., H-1B nonimmigrants) because of their immigration status, the unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327), the Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561), or the Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570). A form I-797 issued to a conditional resident may be an acceptable List C(8) document in combination with his or her expired Form I-551 ("green card").
The REAL ID Act will not impact currently badged personnel or those processing for a PIV (Smart Card) badge or other Center specific type badge. Identification previously accepted for these processes shall continue to be accepted for completing these processes.

 
 

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