Non-U.S. citizens are prohibited from visiting the U.S. Naval Academy or Naval Support Activity Annapolis, which is located across the Severn River and provides operational and other support to the academy without being accompanied by a U.S. citizen who has Department of Defense credentials and escort privileges, the school wrote in an X post .

Effective Wednesday, non-citizens must also be visiting for “official business” and show an official passport for entry. Previous policy regarding non-U.S. citizens visiting either installation is unclear.

Previous versions of the academy’s visitor page made no mention of “non-US citizens,” according to the internet archive, Wayback Machine. Naval District Washington, which is responsible for all REAL ID-related queries, did not respond to a request for comment.

“Additionally, non-US citizens may only visit USNA and NSA Annapolis when in the escort of a U.S. Citizen who has Department of Defense Credentials and escort privileges and only for official USNA or NSAA sponsored events,” the Tuesday post reads. “Non-US citizens must still present an official passport.”

The restriction came at the bottom of a thread of X posts announcing that REAL ID-compliant credentials, which require more identity verification than traditional licenses, would be required for guests entering through Pedestrian Gate 1. Policy changes at airports, federal government facilities and military installations nationwide went into effect Wednesday in compliance with The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005 .

A REAL-ID is a federally compliant state-issued license or identification card that the Department of Homeland Security says is a more secure form of identification.

A Naval Academy public affairs spokesperson told The Capital they did not know what previous non-U.S. citizen visitation policy was, or if a policy existed.