A federal mandate will make your current New Jersey driver’s license useless if you want to use it to fly from any U.S. airport -- unless you upgrade it to a more secure “Real ID” license by October 2020. But, while most other states have already started issuing the Real IDs, no one in New Jersey has been given the new licenses yet.

The state’s Motor Vehicle Commission will start issuing the Real IDs -- more secure driver’s licenses and ID cards that conform with the federal standards -- starting this spring, according to Jim Hooker, an MVC spokesman. It’s in line with the rollout timeline the MVC promised to adhere to last year, he said.

The agency is on track to meet the October 2020 deadline to have the secure licenses available, he said. But, MVC officials declined to give a date when Real ID licenses will start being issued or say which MVC locations in New Jersey will be the first to issue them.

“We are not releasing that information yet,” Hooker said.

New Jersey is one of six states that have yet to start implementing the Real ID. Federal officials have set several deadlines for states to start rolling out the new IDs. New Jersey has been granted several extensions by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including the latest, which mandates that it starts by October 10 of this year. The state could apply for a final extension that would run until October 2020.

DHS officials declined to comment about the state’s progress in rolling out the new IDs.

Drivers who want to use their licenses as identification at the airport or to enter federal facilities will have to get Real ID licenses by October 2020, MVC officials said. People without Real IDs will be able to use other forms of identification to board planes, including U.S. Passports, U.S. Passport Cards, or U.S. Military IDs.

Real ID has remained a cliff hanger for the MVC to implement because it depended on an on-again, off again effort to replace and rehabilitate the MVC’s aging computer system. (Motor vehicle departments in other states have had similar problems when a contractor hired to do the computer upgrades left the industry, officials said).

In addition to handling the Real ID rollout, the computer upgrades will increase overall reliability at the MVC, officials said. Some are supposed to improve customer flow, while others will allow the MVC to add online services so that fewer people will need to visit an agency, officials said.

New Jersey started issuing enhanced driver’s licenses in 2011 that contained over 20 overt and covert features to help meet the guidelines in a 2005 federal security law. The new Real IDs will contain even more security features. Among them, licenses will show a person’s full first name, instead of the first nine characters displayed now, MVC officials said.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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