Did you keep your state residency when moving around? How did you keep it?

[kstreet]

A bit of a quandary..

I was born in CA, lived there for 18 years, acquired a CA driver's license (still have it).

I went to school in PA for 4 years, voted there in the 2004 election (it was a swing state!! ) and paid a few taxes for misc. work I did during college.

Now I'm working as a Research Tech in NY and most likely will have to pay state and city taxes because I currently reside in the city.

My family lives in CA and my intention is to return to my homeland in the sun.

Is it possible to still apply as a CA resident? What can be done to prove my "residency"?

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[PeripateticMD]

A bit of a quandary..

I was born in CA, lived there for 18 years, acquired a CA driver's license (still have it).

I went to school in PA for 4 years, voted there in the 2004 election (it was a swing state!! ) and paid a few taxes for misc. work I did during college.

Now I'm working as a Research Tech in NY and most likely will have to pay state and city taxes because I currently reside in the city.

My family lives in CA and my intention is to return to my homeland in the sun.

Is it possible to still apply as a CA resident? What can be done to prove my "residency"?

You're not a resident if you pay taxes or vote in other states. I've lived outside of CA the past 5 years, but have kept my residency because I kept my residence as my parents (all my checks are sent to CA which is a pain, but it maintains residency). I only vote absentee in CA elections. If you register to vote, register a car, or register as an employee with a local residence (outside of CA), I think you're out of luck. I'd reregister everything in CA and regain residency (would take a year).

 

[kstreet]

Hmm, funky.

I suppose NY residency isn't much better than CA in terms of in-state competitiveness.

Peripatetic: Do you pay state taxes for the state you reside in as well as CA? I always thought that maintaining physical presence in a state and earning an income in said state entailed some sort of tax.

 

[Stray]

I'm currently in school in washington state. I have a WA driver's license, I voted in the last election, and I pay taxes. I am considered a legal resident of Kansas though. The laws here state that you have to live in the state for one year without the intention of going to school to be considered a WA resident. I don't know if that law applies to all states or not, I would check it out though.

 

[BrownianMotion]

kstreet,

imo, i think having ny residency is siginicantly better than havin residency in CA. Unless you're a steller applicant (ie 34+ on MCAT), gettin into any CA school is very hard and if you don't get anything, your state residency there will be basically wasted. PA is quite possibly one of the worst states to have residency in considering the fact they barely show any love to their in-state applicants versus their OOS ones. However, with NY, you have several solid schools that heavily favor in-state applicants, plus they are not ultra-competitive to get into. Considering your a solid applicant, you may end up having your choice of Stony Brook, Downstate, Upstate, or Buffalo, while if you were the same solid applicant, you may not have gotten into any of the CA schools. There are jus soo many ppl in CA and the schools are all phenomenal, getting into any one of them is a significant accomplishment (well, getting into any medical school is)

Best of luck, dude