Should I keep my home state as my residence during residency?

[lsres]

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I will be starting a residency in New York (NYC) next summer, which is close to my home state of Pennsylvania. I am considering keeping my status as a Pennsylvania resident. I believe that as long as I have a permanent address or have an intention to return to PA I can do that. Are there any advantages or disadvatanges doing this in terms of future licensure (in NY or PA) or other reasons? When doing my medical school rotations in New York I kept my official residence as PA. I have been living with my parents and since I will still be able to receive mail and have everything registered there I do not think it will be a problem. I also prefer to keep my all my auto paperwork for PA. Keeping my official residence in PA may make doing taxes more difficult – I will have earnings from New York but will have to report income from bank interest and investment income to Pennsylvania. Has anyone else kept their residency status in their home state?

 

[f_w]

Are there any advantages or disadvatanges doing this in terms of future licensure (in NY or PA) or other reasons?

You don't have to be a state resident to obtain a medical license.

I also prefer to keep my all my auto paperwork for PA.

NYC will track how long you park your out of state car in the city (the meter maids enter out of state numbers in their little computer thing). If you exceed some threshold you will receive a notice that you are now required to register your car in NY. If you don't comply, they will tow it to the pound to ensure that you pay the motor vehicle tax due in NYS (don't ask me how I found that out). You will see plenty of PA and NC plates in NYC, people just take their chances. ( If you have off-street parking and keep your car in a hospital parking lot during the day you won't have that problem though).
Given the experience of dealing with the DMV offices in NYC, you are probably still better off to take your chances by keeping your PA plates.