Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
IMO six months, but if you're an American citizen living over seas, the government considers you a resident of that place after one year. At least for tax perposes.
I have homes in two places and consider that I live in both. I get mail in both places, I have homes and cars in both places. My job is in both places and I pay property taxes in both places. However, I clearly only vote in one place! :-)
In the past, my previous job took me for a "test drive" of Houston. I was there for 6 months and had an apartment, a car, a phone, a job, etc. I got mail there too. I didn't just spend M-F in Houston and return to somewhere else on the weekend. I explored Texas on weekends, made friends and built a framework for a social life. I even went to a UT football game in Austin and a Texas Tech game in Lubbock on two weekends. Ultimately I decided not to stay there and returned to Raleigh.
That said, I never changed my driver's license or my official residency. My job was with my same company and all of that was left as is while in that six month period.
In the end, I consider myself having lived in Houston.
IMO six months, but if you're an American citizen living over seas, the government considers you a resident of that place after one year. At least for tax perposes.
There are official fiscal definitions of residency that are not applicable in the real world. For example, if you graduate from high school in State A, and move immediately to State B, and then decide to go to college there, State B might consider you to be a non-resident (for tuition fee purposes) for seven years, until you are 25. However, if you want to hunt or fish in State B, you can do so with a resident license the minute you get a drivers license in State B, which you can do before you even unpack.
I've lived in a lot of different places, and traveled to/visited many others. For me, to say that I have truly "lived" in a place, generally means I had spent at least a year there, worked there, got out and saw more than just the little neighborhood where I lived, met and befriended more than a few of the locals, and really familiarized myself with the local culture. In the past, I have had jobs that sent me to other states/regions/cities where I worked for a month or two, but I don't really count those as "living" somewhere, since most times I was staying in motels while still paying rent on my home somewhere else, and mainly just interacting with co-workers who were also from somewhere else. In those cases, I was familiarized with the areas where I worked in only the most general sort of way, so I don't count those as having "lived" there.
Before my son was born almost 4 years ago, I really enjoyed moving around the country and getting a feel for different cultures in various different regions, and seeing the world from different regional perspectives. Everything changes once you have a kid. I plan on settling down here in the PNW, even though this isn't where I'm from originally. I've lived in and seen enough of this country to know that this is the perfect place (for me and my family) to put down permanent roots.
In the past, my general rule was to move somewhere, live there for about 3 years, then move somewhere else. I did this for about 23 years and got to experience a lot of different regions/states/cities/towns all over the country. Big cities, small towns, cold places, hot places, coastal, inland, wetlands, deserts, and at one point, an island. It has been a very enriching experience that I feel very fortunate to have had, and it has given me some invaluable insight, but it's time to stay put now for once in my life.
Last edited by Bobloblawslawblog; 11-22-2013 at 03:52 PM..
I agree with the notion that receiving mail meant that you've lived there. You don't get to accept the Demonym unless you've been there at least two years though. For example, I grew up in Milwaukee. I can call myself a Milwaukeean. I lived in Chicago for three months, but I am not a Chicagoan. I've been living in Cincinnati for 2.5 years. I am a Cincinnatian.
ANY DMV records such as ID, Driver''s license, Vehicle registration, Handicapped placard, etc.
Medical records
Insurance
Bank accounts
Credit accounts
Phone service
School records
Applications
Bills
Mail
Exactly right Randy. Well said. You'd be lying if the address were used for ANY of those things and you couldn't say you lived there. Its not so much important if you are actually there physically or weather or not you actually eat, sleep, shower, do laundry etc. there so much as it is if you can really feel it is a place you can "call" home. ..to the point you "feel" it as home.
(especially if there is no other)
You can call anyplace home for that matter but if you use it for ANY of the things on your list you BETTER say that is where you "live."
I would say at least a few months assuming that you had a job and didn't live in a hotel like a tourist.
Or were in school if you didn't have a job.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
