VA as Secondary Residence? (renting, vehicle registration, insurance)

[SaintTaris]

I posted in a previous thread //www.city-data.com/forum/north...here-live.html that I plan on accepting a job and moving to NoVA sometime this summer/fall. I plan on keeping my home in GA where my wife and son will remain. I also plan on renting a APT/TH/CONDO for hopefully 1-2 years tops in NoVA.

I would like to keep my primary residence in GA and not have to change my driver's license, voter and vehicle registration. Is this doable? Where should I look for laws governing residency be it permanent or temporary.

Thanks in advance.

[z28lt1]

I'm afraid, you'll have to look for different places for different reasons, and then it still won't be easy.

First, for tax purposes, VA will consider you a resident if you have a place here for more than 183 days. It will consider you a Domiciliary resident of GA.

Second, if your car is "regularly" located in VA, you will need to register it with the county for personal property taxes. That does not mean you will have to register it with the DMV. You should check the VA DMV rules for that, but hopefully there will be a way to keep all registered in GA.

However after that, practicality doesn't match with the law always. For example, one time I was working in FL 4-5 days a week and flying back to VA during the weekends, and this was not a permanent thing. I purchased a motorcycle in Florida to have while I was down there. I tried to get insurance via a FL insurance company since it would be located in FL, and the regulations dictated that. However the insurance company would not insure it unless it was registered in FL. I tried to register the motorcycle in FL, but they would not do that unless my driver's license was in FL. My personal vehicles and my house were in VA. I was staying in a hotel in FL and had no permanent address there, so I couldn't get a driver's license there. Long story short, motorycle was registered and insured in VA (although it never spent a day there). There was no other way around it as the conflicting laws and regulations made it impossible for me to register and insure it in FL even though I lived in VA. Summary: You'll probably have to make some gray area choices.

[car54]

Unless you qualify for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Relief Act (ie. are non-resident active duty military), or a full-time, unemployed student enrolled in a Virginia university...you are supposed to obtain a drivers license and VA plates within 30 (or 60?) days.

Can you get away without doing it? Probably.

Is it legal? No.