DMVs cracking down regarding addresses?

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702Rubi

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(First off, if this is a duplicate thread, please delete it and move my question to the correct thread, thank you.  I did look but didn't see anyone discussing this issue).

I'm preparing to start fulltiming.  I currently live in a rental home in Las Vegas, NV and I'm planning to use JB Mailroom up in Pahrump for my mail and address needs.  In part because of recommendations from people here.

This morning I called JB Mailroom to ask a few questions.  During the conversation, I was told that the DMV would not allow me to use the provided residential address.  The DMV is cracking down on people using addresses where they don't actually reside.  Furthermore, I was told this is not only happening in Nevada: Companies providing these services in other states are encountering the same pushback from their DMVs.  Apparently this is "Homeland Security" driven.  ::)

I do have the option of using an established household in California for my address/mail, but I don't want to (re)establish residence there.  I'd prefer to use a service such as JB Mailroom, but this is a major glitch.

Anyone else running into DMV problems?  Comments?  Suggestions for solutions?
 
Just a thought, but you might write to or call your state senators or representatives to ask what they think you should do.

Off the wall, I know, but I've gotten help from my state's representatives on a state issue in the past.

While I know this is driven by Homeland Security, there are plenty of people who now live only in their rigs, and the government can't just pretend we don't exist. I discovered that WA State, while they will not let me change my physical address on my driver's or vehicle licenses to either of the RV parks I stay in (so I'm still using the address of the house I used to own, but no longer do), still considers me a legal resident based on their stated criteria.

So if they try some push-back thing in the future, refusing to accept the address of either campground but wanting me to change the address they have now, contacting my representatives is exactly what I intend to do.
 
I live in Florida and have a mail service to receive mail and forward it to where I might be at the time.  All of my vehicle registrations and driver licenses show my home's physical address although I don't receive mail at this location.  Not a big problem since I do own the house at this address.  It just gets a little dicey when someone wants to use my physical mailing address and I don't have a mailbox.
 
Hi. See notes below from my experience in May of this year. The lady at DMV said Nevada was one of the most tourist friendly states.

I strongly suggest you use the DMV link and send any questions via the website, they answer reasonably quickly.

http://www.dmvnv.com

Hopefully things have not changed!



Registering Vehicles

We decided to register our vehicles in Nevada who are very accepting of foreign visitors and although the sales taxes are not low we felt happy to pay them. As we have used Vegas as a base 90% of the time we have visited the states we decided to continue with this. I believe there are other states which are cheaper for registration so do your homework on this one. After reading through the website I had a couple of unanswered questions so I submitted these online and received replies within a few days. Here is a link to the main DMV USA  http://www.dmvnv.com site, you can go into every state's site from there.



You need to go to the DMV Office to register your vehicles and we were told that you could pay an agent to go and wait in line, however you can book an appointment online very easily, although usually not for the same day. There are different queues for waiting and pre booked appointments. We had to get the truck VIN checked so do that before you go in for your appointment, we did not need to do this for the trailer, bus but suspect you may need to do this for your motorhome, please check. We took in all of the purchase paperwork and our passports. The process was very quick and we had our registration completed in about 20 minutes. They were happy to use the UPS Mailbox address we had provided. We paid for 3 years of registration for the trailer as it was discounted. We could only register for 1 year for our truck.
 
I don't think this is new - the requirement for a "real address" has been around for over a dozen years now. Yes, it is driven by federal security laws that came into being after 9/11.  Each states interpretation of what it will accept as a "real address" (and proof thereof) no doubt changes over time.

You are probably considered a "homeless person" and there are sometimes state-level provisions for licensing them. Trouble is, most of those provisions seem to expect there is some formal organization that can certify that the person is real and known to them. Maybe an attorney or accountant could do it?

Kittykitty's suggestion is a good one, even if only to help future applicants. The bureaucrats have to come up with procedures to handle this, and RVers aren't the only ones with the problem.

As a fallback, you could always rent a room in a flophouse somewhere for a month and do your license application.  Nobody's gonna check next month to see if you have moved, and you should be good at least until renewal time.
 
Or decide to live in South Dakota. They are a very RV friendly state. Nevada is pretty good too. No state income tax. The gamblers take care of that. ;D
 
Gary [ RVer Emeritus] said:
As a fallback, you could always rent a room in a flophouse somewhere for a month and do your license application.  Nobody's gonna check next month to see if you have moved, and you should be good at least until renewal time.

What a novel idea! Keeping that in mind, also.

One of the things I learned is that a recreational RV park (as opposed to a residential one) will be in the address system as a business, and it's that part that will kick the address back as being unacceptable.

So make sure whatever flophouse you choose is a rooming house with a legal residential address, and not classified as a motel (for transient rather than permanent guests) and therefore a business.
 
We use the Passport America mail forwarding service with a Florida address.  This past Friday, we went to the Crestview, FL tax assessor's office and used our mail forwarding address as our residence.  No problems were encountered when we got drivers licenses and tags for the car and RV using our mail forwarding address and PMB number.  I've also switched over our bank, credit union, credit card, and other accounts to the Passport America address with no issues.  Of course, the PPA address is a real physical address.  We've been there to pick up mail.  And, Florida is probably more accommodating to full timers than other states may be.
 
Many fulltime RVers join Escapees, an RVer organization based in Livingston TX. As a member they can use the Escapees mail forwarding service and Livingston becomes their legal address (domicile) for paying taxes, vehicle registration, voting, and the like.  Escapees was started by fulltime RVers as a means of keeping up with one another through their newsletter.  Today it has thousands of members with Escapees parks scattered around the country.  Members can purchase a lot at one of the Escapees member campgrounds and that also can be their legal address.  Choice of domicile state can be very important because of taxes.  You REALLY don't want to go back to high-taxing California if you can help it, especially after living in a no-state-income-tax state like Nevada!  Texas is one of the states with no state income tax which is one reason it is so attractive as an RVer domicile.

And, yes, all the DMVs are cracking down on the legality of an address.  You usually have to produce something like utility bills to "prove" you're residing at that address, hence the "no mail box" policy for driver's licenses.  We just got our new "real ID" driver licenses and we had to have multiple pieces of ID to prove who we were and where we reside.  Eventually every citizen will be required to have one of these "real IDs" in order to board airplanes and such.  Finally, some people may suggest setting up an LLC, but you really want to be careful doing that for residency because they're such a gray area of the law that some states are going after people who are not conducting a true business within the LLC.  Putting the RV into LLC ownership may be construed as tax evasion which might mean a jail term.  Colorado has prosecuted at least one RVer who tried to evade paying CO vehicle taxes by setting up an LLC in another state.

ArdraF
 
SD deals with the TSA requirements as follows:


You may use a PMB as the address on your DL but you must show proof of staying in a Campground for at least 1 night in the past 12 months and sign an affidavit that you are a resident of SD and plan to return there.


SD has always had lenient domicile requirements including voting.


That said I have had one bank and one credit card company reject the mail handler as a commercial address.
Fortunately they accepted our winter address in AZ which is a RV Park and kept our SD address as our mailing address.
 
ArdraF said:
You usually have to produce something like utiolity bills to "prove" you're residing at that address, hence the "no mail box" policy for driver's licenses. 

I don't think this is done to prove one lives there.  It's suppose to verify that the  address you provided and your name are consistent. One does not need to live in a state to be a resident of that state and have a valid DL from it.

Eventually every citizen will be required to have one of these "real IDs" in order to board airplanes and such.

In several states I know of, you can get a DL that is not "real" and all that means is that you can't use it as an official ID document.  Many people including me use a passport as our official ID and in doing so don't need a real ID DL from a state.

This entire fiasco is occurring because people, including licence bureau folks, and legislators writing the State level enabling laws to implement the Federal Real ID Act of 2005 are using/interpreting the terms residence, residency, residential, etc. incorrectly.  This is the crux of the matter because to get a DL from a particular state you have to be a resident.  Each state defines when a person is considered a resident of their state and of all the ones I know of, their is no single requirement that says one needs to live at a residential address IN that state.  BUT because lazy law-writers use the term residence etc. in laws without further defining it to take into account all the alternatives, the implementing regs use it for lack of better terminology and then the agency enforcing the regs interprets it to mean house!!! 

It's a mess right now folks, but you don't need a RESIDENTIAL address to be a resident and as soon as an attorney or two sue a state over how license bureaus are interpreting the term residential address, we'll see things change.  It only takes one to win, cause then there is a precedent for other judges to follow.

What should the term be?  How about legal address?  Or registered address?  Or registered mailing address.  The law is all about proving identity, NOT about where or how one lives.  (essentially it's the backdoor to a national ID system without Congress having to fess up to it).

To the OP,I have seen others complain about Nevada and the address thing for a DL.  They simply lied and used a real house address that they didn't live in.  I would not do that.  I'd make my state either Texas, SD, or Florida. 

But you can read the Nevada DL requirements here
http://www.dmvnv.com/dlresidency.htm
And see for yourself how resident is defined---it does not say you have to live in the state at  a residential address.

I do hope things work out successfully for you.

Linda



 
In most states, the DMV has become a partner with the County Registrar's office for voter registration, and with the move to "prevent voter fraud" real addresses are becoming a requirement.
In Colorado, the DMV doesn't mind my PO Box as a mailing address being in their records, but they didn't like my PO Box for a real address location. And the County Clerk insisted on having my physical address.

 
Talking about NV registration as at May 2016, here is an extract from an email exchange I had with the DMV:

"Good day,

When you register your vehicle, you will need to provide a physical Nevada address on the application. Your mailing address may be any US address. You do not need to bring documents to prove either address."

The physical address we gave was a campground and they knew our UPS mailbox address was just that. We had no problems with Registration.

Obviously the Driving Licence requirements are very different.
 
We did ours in Oregon and use a mail service.......cheap license fees. Met the requirements ....to become residents with no physical address. Our drivers license shows our mail service address but also states we are ...."continuous travelers"
 
jackiemac said:
... They were happy to use the UPS Mailbox address we had provided.

Maybe they were able to use that as the "mailing address", but they would have had to provide a valid residential address as well.  Such as an RV park address?

The NV residency requirements for a driver's license are on the following page (scroll down a ways).  Perhaps a vehicle registration doesn't require as much residency documentation as a driver's license?


http://www.dmvnv.com/dlresidency.htm


Edit:  jackimac pointed out the same thing I did here!
 
cpaulsen said:
We did ours in Oregon and use a mail service.......cheap license fees. Met the requirements ....to become residents with no physical address. Our drivers license shows our mail service address but also states we are ...."continuous travelers"

Interesting, when I have asked about domiciling, etc. before, Oregon was not one of the states mentioned as an option.

"(6) An applicant who travels continuously may use a residence address of ?continuous traveler.? The applicant must prove that the applicant is a resident or domiciled in Oregon pursuant to OAR 735-016-0040. In addition to the use of ?continuous traveler,? the applicant must also provide a mailing address. "

OAR 735-016-0040 is lengthy, but in scanning through, it looked like I'd have a hard time meeting the requirements to establish residency there, as I'm not interested in staying there for 6+ months (the Southwest and Colorado are my usual haunts), and I can't or don't want to meet the other requirements:

"(4) A person is an Oregon resident for purposes of obtaining an Oregon driver license, driver permit, identification card or vehicle registration if the person has taken action to indicate the acquiring of residence in Oregon by doing any of the following:

(a) Currently residing in Oregon after having remained in Oregon for a consecutive period of six months or more;

(b) Placing children in a public school without payment of nonresident tuition fees;

(c) Making a declaration to be an Oregon resident for the purpose of obtaining, at resident rates, a state license or tuition fees at an educational institution maintained by public funds; or

(d) Being gainfully employed in Oregon and taking any of the steps described above to indicate a residence."

But thanks for the input, interesting to learn how its done in another state.
 
Gary [ RVer Emeritus] said:
...As a fallback, you could always rent a room in a flophouse somewhere for a month and do your license application.  Nobody's gonna check next month to see if you have moved, and you should be good at least until renewal time.

Or, along those lines, just keep my current driver's license and then figure out what to do when it expires in 2023!  :-X  I currently live in a rental, and the address is on my Real ID NV driver's license.  I got that license as soon as I signed the lease, as I wanted to make it clear I was breaking ties with California.  My vehicle is also registered at that address.

As long as I have all my mail going to a good mail forwarding service so nothing gets returned or lost, and I do everything on time (renewing reg, auto insurance, taxes)...as you noted, most likely no official would ever be the wiser.  ;D The mail forwarding service is very close to my current home, so it wouldn't raise any eyebrows to have my mail going to a box that's nearby.

Anyway, since my original post, I did a lot of online research, and came across an interesting bit of the law in Nevada (see pic that is either attached or at the link below).  Given that I will be maintaining many connections to Las Vegas (and, if I have to settle down, will likely do so here), perhaps that approach is fully within the letter of the law.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/csskalet/snip_zpsr9iaedrr.jpg
 

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702Rubi-- glad to see you checked on the link provided to you by a couple of posters regarding the residency in NV.  Sounds like you're in good shape.

Some thoughts about the bigger issues and to respond to some of the postings just for the sake of clarity.  Please don't assume anything regarding this DL issue -- the complexity of what is going on is mind-boggling.

This entire issue is not about DLs, it's about States being required under a non-funded Federal mandate to issue DLs or IDs, which constitute a national identity program for purposes of creating a centralized, single national identity database.  It has nothing to do with State requirements for voter registration, vehicle registration, etc.  IMO, it is a colossal federal SCREW-UP being perpetuated by implementing states, who have written bad enabling legislation and un-workable regulations that even DMV people can't understand and it is costing us BILLIONS.

The law is the Real ID Act of 2005.  It is a bad law, probably passed unconstitutionally, and aims to allow the Feds to better control immigration and crack-down on States that were issuing legal IDs to illegal aliens.  Okay I get that.  Only Title II of the law deals with the DL and ID card issue, but make no mistake, this is about invasion of privacy and curtailing your rights.

Want to read about what DHS is requiring?  Check here https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-faq-implementation

Why do you care?  Because you need a Real ID that is federally recognized to fly on an airplane after 2018, enter federal facilities that require and ID, and enter nuclear power plants.  You can use a passport to do the first two, and are you actually going to visit a nuclear power plant??? 

Every State I have checked still has the option to issue a normal, recognized driver's license that IS NOT a federally compliant Real ID DL.  Yes, you can drive, buy insurance, open a checking account, etc. --- at least for now.  But my bet is that in a decade or so, you'll need a REAL ID DL or card to buy groceries or a ticket to a sporting event, get utility service etc. and all your data is now shared by all inter-linked 50 states and all the private corporations involved now and in the future.  I don't have anything to hide and the gov't can find my anytime they want.  But this national identity database stinks IMHO.

1.  Every state is required to implement the law and the Dept. of Homeland Security regulations about it, and were supposed to have done so by 2008. It was a very rush-rush kinda thing on the heels of 9/11. But it is a colossal screw-up, for too many reasons to go into, and the final deadline is now 2020.  Now what happens with something major like this is that DHS sends out "trainers" or consultants to "help" the States understand what all the various provisions and language in the law means so that States can enact their own laws and regs in order to enforce the federal law.  Sorry it is so complex, but that is how all this works.  Depending on how smart or diligent a State's legislature and bureaucracy is and what they were told by the likely rushed and ill-informed consultants who guided them, either something workable came out of the process, or something entirely stupid came out. 

2.  All States are not in the same place in the process.  Some states are fully compliant at this point.  Some states have flatly refused to implement the law, and other states are somewhere in between and have been granted extensions by DHS.  Do not assume that because you recently (or anytime since about 2010) got a DL that it is in fact a Read ID DL, because your state may or may not actually be fully compliant with the Federal requirements, or have been compliant when your last DL was issued.

Here is a link to the information on the status of each State with regard to issuing the national identity IDs.

https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-enforcement-brief

Note for example that Oregon is not fully compliant.  You must access YOUR STATES DMV information to determine just what requirements and options are currently in effect.  And look at your most recent DL to see if it is actually Real ID compliant.  I think all states use a yellow/gold star in the upper right corner to designate a DL that is Real ID compliant.

Back to the Issue of Principal Residence  Now Comes the Hard Part, which is complex, so if you don't like details, skip the following.

Definitions.  You can't use your own interpretation of what terms mean in a law or regulation, you have to use what definition is given in the law.  So let's look at the usage of residential address and similar.

Yes, the federal law specifically mandates that States must require (among other things) "The person's address of principle residence"  And please note, this DOES NOT say it has to be a residential address.  Big difference.

The DHS regulations implementing the law defines principle residence as "means the location where a person currently resides (i.e. presently resides even if at a temporary address) in conformance with the residency requirements of the State issuing the driver's license or identification card, if such requirements exist.  

Nothing in this definition requires that to be a house, or apt. or anything else that in layman's terms means residential!  If you live an RV, then so be it.  That is where you reside.  In the states I have checked, you don't need a home, apartment, so-called residential address to meet the State's requirements for residency.  See the snip included with last post for NV definition for example.

The DHS regulations at 6 CFR 37.11 subsection (f) state that at the time of application, a person must present at least two documents of the State's choice that include the individual's name and principal residence.  A street address is required except as provided in section 37.17(f) of the part.  NOTE:  It says street address, NOT residential address. 

The mail services I've talked to use street addresses, NOT PO BOXES, so, so far so good.

Your Real DL or ID must show your address of principal residence on the face. The exception provided at Section 37.17 (f) of the federal regulation is titled Address of principal residence and says  "Except an alternative address may be displayed for:(3)  In areas where a number and street name has not been assigned for U.S. Mail delivery, an address convention used by the U.S Postal Service is acceptable. 

Maybe I'm alone in my interpretation, but I don't think anyone's RV has been assigned a number and street name for US mail delivery.  And here, the interpretation and application of the rule is important.  Your RV may be parked in a location with an address, BUT the RV itself does not have an address, yet the RV is your principal residence according to the definitions.  The law does not care about your living arrangements. 

There is a lot of interpretation of the rules here, so I may be out of line.  But it seems like a reasonable argument to me.  South Dakota seems to get it!  They state clearly what you need to do regarding the "address" issue, and they are certified as compliant by DHS.  I quote from SD DMV:  People Who Travel Full Time
If you are using a South Dakota mail forwarding address, you will need to complete the residency affidavit.  You will also need to provide a receipt from a South Dakota hotel/motel, campground, or RV park to prove one night of stay within the last year and ONE DOCUMENT (no more than one year old) proving your personal mailbox (PMB) service address (receipt from the PMB business or a piece of mail with your PMB address on it).


If SD can do it, then other States could to.  Why aren't they?  Well, they have their own agenda!!  Or they are just plain wrong.

Nothing requires a residential address!!!  meaning home, or apt. etc.  I do think that "areas where a number and street name has not been assigned" would cover an RV.  Living at a RV park or campground certainly qualifies as a "principal residence" and it is merely a state's lack of wanting to implement workable rules that says you can't use that address because it is a business.  Again, their own agenda.  Thousands upon thousands of people live and work at the same address.  My home address is also a registered business address and that does not disqualify it as my principal residence. 

None of us can account for all the BAD DMV rules and implementation that is going on. And none of us likely actually wants to try to fight the clerk at the DMV with a bunch of legalese.  But . . then again, your situation may require you to seek help further up the bureaucratic chain and at least you're armed with some basics now. 

But it would behoove us to not confuse the terms "residential" and "residency" and domicile, and residential address etc. with the actual, legal term "principal residence"  and "address" as it is defined by the Real ID law and regulations as the term pertains to getting drivers licenses.  To do otherwise only confuses an already terribly messed-up, unpopular, irksome situation.

BTW, the principal residence address documentation is only one part of what you need now to get a REAL ID compliant DL, if you want one.  Be aware that you must have a passport or birth certificate, social security number and any number of other things if you've had name changes, are an alien, etc. and whether or not you have a Real ID DL from another State that you are surrendering. Always check way in advance what your State's requirements are depending on your circumstances so you can be prepared.

Linda
 
AStravelers said:
The Escapees RV club has a great booklet about establishing a domicile here:  https://escapees.com/images/pdfs/texan.pdf

Hi All -- that is a great booklet for listing all the things that anyone in any State needs to consider for setting up for fulltime.

And at the current time it looks like the info, re: a driver's license, is okay in Texas because Texas is a Federal Real ID non-compliant state.

The question of domicile is not an issue under the Real ID requirements, which at this point Texas does not have.  I just wanted to point out again that to assist people, we need to make distinctions that take into account the "principal residence address" under Real ID with regard to DLs and not confuse it with other terminology or mislead people into thinking all is okey-dokey in Texas when in fact the situation is highly fluid and could change at any time.

Any RVer in Texas -- this would be a good time to let your state rep/ senators know what you need so they can make the rules workable for your situation.  And any other groups that can lobby your needs on this issue in Texas.

The booklet will be out of date if/when Texas implements the Real ID DL requirements, and they have 3 years to do that at this point.  With 16 million drivers in Texas, just how long do ya think the lines are gonna be to get a Real compliant DL in order to board an airplane in 2020?  Yikes!

Linda
 

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