How do I become a resident of another state?

May 1, 2015 9:12 AM

I've moved to Vermont. How do I become an official resident?
posted by zenja72 to Law & Government (11 answers total)

Official residency depends of the purpose for which it is intended. For instance, for the purposes of some state agencies, you may have become a resident as soon as you began living in the state with no specific intention to leave it. For the purpose of other state agencies, such as state universities making in-state tuition available to you, residency may be more a complex inquiry.

So as you can see, there is not really enough information in your question to give a specific answer, as the answer will depend on the agency, or on the purpose to which you wish to put your residency status.
posted by gauche at 9:17 AM on May 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: I want to vote in this state, be eligible for town and state services, and remove my residency from my previous state.
posted by zenja72 at 9:26 AM on May 1, 2015

The first step is always obtaining proof of residence, such as a lease/deed to your residence or a utility bill for your local address in your name. Once you have that you can obtain a drivers license or state resident card and register any vehicles you have.

That is generally enough, though when it has been important for me (such as for in-state tuition) I also quickly registered to vote and got a public library card for good measure. If you're dealing with that sort of situation you should definitely check on official requirements as gauche suggests.
posted by veery at 9:29 AM on May 1, 2015

Best answer: Take the Voter's Oath (used be referred to as the Freeman's Oath)!

Other than that I think you are a resident. If you drive getting a license should complete the deal.

Welcome to Vermont!
posted by terrapin at 9:29 AM on May 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Get a Vermont driver's license, register and insure your vehicle, register to vote, rent or buy a home, get utility accounts in your name. all of these should be sufficient. If you're not a driver see if there is some state ID for non-drivers. Not necessarily in that order: in some states to change your driver's license you have to show a lease and/or utility bills.

In my experience registering to vote in a new state somehow automatically removes your voter registration in your previous state, but I might be wrong.
posted by mareli at 9:30 AM on May 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Voting registration requirements for residency are on the 2nd page of this .pdf.

"To be eligible to vote in Vermont you must: (Eligibility requirements are in 17 V.S.A. § 2121, 2122)
1. be a citizen of the United States;
2. be a resident of Vermont and a resident of the town in which you apply to be added to the checklist; (OR be a military or overseas voter qualified under the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act whose last place of residence in the United States immediately prior to moving overseas was in a Vermont town or city);
3. take, or have previously taken, the Voter's Oath; and
4. be 18 years of age or older or will be 18 on or before the day of election."

also

"You must include your Vermont DMV-issued Driver’s License Number or Personal I.D. Number (VT PID#) on the voter application. If you do not have a Driver’s License or VT PID# issued by DMV, then you must include the last four (4) digits of your Social Security Number. (SSN). If you do not have either, please contact the Office of the Secretary of State."
posted by furnace.heart at 9:32 AM on May 1, 2015

Best answer: I register people to vote in Vermont and I also deal with the voter roll issues. If you register to vote and have an address you are good to vote here, for example. If you live in a town you should be eligible for town services, though I'm not sure what you mean by that specifically. As far a the state goes, you'll need to see what their residency requirements are (for example in-state tuition at UVM is a specific thing and here is what they say about residency). I think you can sign up for state health care basically immediately.

Other good things to do

- establish a mailing address and get bills sent to it. You can get a PO Box today but they'll still ask you for a "permanent" address
- register a car (if you have one) or getting a state ID (if you don't).
- get a library card (may require one of the previous things depending on how small the town is)

Let me know if I can help in any other way. Welcome to Vermont.
posted by jessamyn at 10:02 AM on May 1, 2015 [5 favorites]

If you want to be a "resident" of Vermont, I would sign a lease and get utilities sent to that address. Legally, you probably have to get a Vermont driver's license within 30 days or whatever of moving there. Each state varies, but you usually have to get an in-state license within a month of taking up residency. You can register to vote if you want, but registering your car there is probably not necessary and would just be an extra cost for you.

My experience of moving states:

As far as car registration, it normally doesn't matter -- you can just keep using your car until the registration expires and then register in your new state when it's time. At least I did. But if you move out of California, you have to tell the DMV or they will continue to try to collect registration late fees and penalties from you and may send it to collections to garnish your wages. Check with the Vermont DMV to see if you have to register there.

Registering to vote in one state doesn't nullify your registration in another state. The states do not communicate in this regard. You will need to register to vote in Vermont, and you should contact your previous state's board of elections and ask how to be removed from their voter roll. I moved from NY and registered to vote in another state, and I haven't lived in NY or voted there in years, and they still send voting notices to my old address. I actually voted in NY after registering in another state and they accepted it. If that was illegal to do, I have no idea -- I didn't vote in two states at the same time or anything.

Once you get a driver's license in a new state, they will take your old ID from your previous state and destroy it.
posted by AppleTurnover at 11:07 AM on May 1, 2015

Actually, it looks like Vermont wants you to register within 60 days of moving. I am pretty sure all the states I have lived in probably required this too and I just never did it, and I never got in trouble because I never got pulled over by a cop.

Another thing is you may want to get new auto insurance. Different states have different requirements, especially in regards to which accidents or driving record blemishes "count" so it could end up costing less (or more). You will want your insurance to be valid for Vermont though. (This isn't something about establishing residency, but it is something you should do if you'll be living in Vermont from now on.)
posted by AppleTurnover at 11:16 AM on May 1, 2015

> As far as car registration, it normally doesn't matter -- you can just keep using your car until the registration expires and then register in your new state when it's time.
> Actually, it looks like Vermont wants you to register within 60 days of moving. I am pretty sure all the states I have lived in probably required this too and I just never did it

It is not only the DMV (or whatever it is called in Vermont). Auto insurance companies will often have a tight rein on title/registration issues. Don't let this one slide.
posted by megatherium at 1:10 PM on May 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Once you get a driver's license in a new state, they will take your old ID from your previous state and destroy it.

Not always, a lot of this is really state dependent. If you get a driver's license with a passport as ID, they might not even see your old ID. The states should communicate better than they do. The way we remove people from the voter rolls in our town is we pass around a list of registered voters and ask "Who moved or died?" and then the town clerk can send a letter to the people who we think aren't in the town anymore and ask them to confirm their status.

This is getting far afield but as someone who balanced "residency" in two separate states for a while (one for health care, the other for property taxes) it's tricky and if you want to do it right it's different than what you can get away with. If you get pulled over by a cop in Vermont and your driver's license is VT and your license plate is not (or vice versa), that could be a costly violation.

Unlike some states like Massachusetts, insurance isn't tied to registration in Vermont. This means if you have auto insurance you may just be able to call them and say that your car is "principally garaged" in VT (and watch your premiums plummet) to switch insurance and then you can deal with registration (Rutland DMV has the shortest lines and the nicest people)
posted by jessamyn at 2:46 PM on May 1, 2015