The federal Department of Homeland Security has extended the deadline for using the specially encrypted Real ID card to enter most federal buildings and to pass through airport security to May 2023.

Until recently, the deadline to begin using the voluntary card had been Oct. 1, but the agency said it extended the deadline again because the pandemic has made it difficult for people to get out to apply for the cards and for some states to issue the cards.

“Protecting the health, safety, and security of our communities is our top priority,” Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a news release. “As our country continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, extending the REAL ID full enforcement deadline will give states needed time to reopen their driver’s licensing operations and ensure their residents can obtain a REAL ID-compliant license or identification card.”

The federal government ordered states to begin issuing encrypted driver’s licenses and identification cards in 2005 in response to the 9/11 attacks to make it difficult to make counterfeit copies. But some states refused to comply until the agency set a deadline for compliance, after which people without Real ID cards, military ID or a valid passport would be refused entry to most federal buildings and airport security.

The new date for federal enforcement of Real ID is May 3, 2023. People who don’t plan to travel or go into a federal building do not have to have the special cards.

In a news release, the National Governors Association called the extension “welcome news.”