❓WHAT HAPPENED: The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) announced a correction requiring the reissuance of approximately 325,000 Real ID driver’s licenses and identification cards due to a longstanding system error.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: California DMV, DMV Director Steve Gordon, and approximately 325,000 affected residents, primarily noncitizen lawful residents.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The issue dates back to a 2006 software configuration, with corrections announced in January 2026, affecting California residents statewide.
💬KEY QUOTE: “We proactively reviewed our records, identified a legacy system issue from 2006, and are notifying impacted customers with clear guidance on how to maintain a valid California-issued credential.” – DMV Director Steve Gordon
🎯IMPACT: Roughly 1.5 percent of Real ID holders in California are affected, with the DMV waiving fees and expediting the reissuance process to minimize inconvenience.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) says it has identified a longstanding system error that necessitates the reissuance of approximately 325,000 Real ID driver’s licenses and identification cards. The issue, stemming from a software configuration implemented in 2006, resulted in incorrect expiration dates being assigned to a subset of Real IDs issued to lawful immigrant residents with fixed authorized stays.
Real ID is a federally mandated identification standard required for air travel and access to certain federal facilities, with full enforcement beginning in May 2025. While the affected cards were verified as Real ID compliant when issued, the expiration dates did not align with federal standards, creating a technical defect.
DMV Director Steve Gordon stated, “We proactively reviewed our records, identified a legacy system issue from 2006, and are notifying impacted customers with clear guidance on how to maintain a valid California-issued credential.”
The error primarily impacts noncitizen residents with time-limited legal status, such as visa holders and lawful permanent residents, whose IDs were issued with standard renewal cycles instead of expiration dates matching their authorized federal stay. Officials claimed that Real IDs have never been issued to illegal immigrants—although some may have been able to use them after their presence in the country became unlawful due to the expiration date issue.
The National Pulse reported in November last year that Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration had announced it would revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) granted to immigrants who, it acknowledged, had remained in the U.S. after the expiration of their legal status. For weeks prior to the move, Newsom and California officials had claimed that all state CDLs had been issued lawfully in accordance with federal law.
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