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When are you required to become a TX resident?


wheast

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I am currently a FT RV traveler based out of FL, and I am thinking of renting an apartment in TX while working a regular FT day job there (not contracting).  I could be in TX from anywhere from 1 to 36 months. I do not want to give up my FL residency. Everything I am finding online assumes you want to become a TX resident, but I do not want to become a TX resident.  In other states where I stayed a long time, I just had to make sure I paid income tax in the state where I was working.  If TX does not have a personal income tax, they may not pressure people to become residents (even if they are renting a house/apt).

Does anyone know when TX requires you to become a resident?   Or have any links to the government sites?  (sometimes they are buried in online PDFs). I am looking for the actual answers.

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Texas allows visitors to be in state 365/366 days a year.  But if you get a job then you have to get you vehicle/s registered, i.e become a resident.

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From the Texas Driver's Manual:

"When a nonresident owner or operator establishes residency in Texas or enters into gainful employment, his vehicle may be operated for 30 days thereafter, after which time the vehicle must be currently registered in Texas"

This varies a bit from Texas Code 521.029:

"OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE BY NEW STATE RESIDENTS. (a) A person who enters this state as a new resident may operate a motor vehicle in this state for no more than 90 days after the date on which the person enters this state if the person: (1) is 16 years of age or older; and (2) has in the person ’s possession a driver ’s license issued to the person by the person ’s state or country of previous residence."

You must not have looked very hard, a common trend this days.

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I guess "enters into gainful employment" was hard to read.

States aren't that hard on Residency but not plating your vehicle in the state is tax avoidance.  

Arizona allows visiting for 6 months but only a week after getting a job.

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20 minutes ago, rm.w/aview said:

Easy there thunder, none of the above factors in to the OP, hasn't established residency & hasn't entered the state as a new resident.

Easy there thunder, who gets to make that decision, you? Under TX law once he takes a permanent job and establishes a residence he has done so.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

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If you take a job in Texas, you must by law register your vehicles in Texas after 30 days.

Lot's of people take temporary jobs in Texas and never register their vehicles in Texas.  Lot's of people live outside of Texas and commute daily into Texas from New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mexico for their employment and never register their vehicles in Texas.  However, the OP asked what the law required.  Mark and Dale Bruss quoted the law.  That should answer OP's question.

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So everyone has stated the law on the issue....

Now here is what most RV'ers that work in the state do.... they don't become citizens of Texas.  There are thousands of oil field workers, from gate guards to rig hands that have their domicile in other states that work in Texas.  The company I work for has employees that work in Texas and their home state is South Dakota and Florida.  

With Texas being a non-income tax state, I wouldn't worry about it.  If you were going to move a family there and use public resources- schools for instance, then you would need to become a resident.  

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When I was in the business, "Boomers" were those coming in for short duration outages, turnarounds and other sort term projects, and in many cases they do get away with ignoring the legal requirements. Not because the law doesn't apply to them, but because of their short exposure and lack of enforcement.

Before retiring I was a project manager for 20 yrs on $100 million dollar plus heavy industrial projects all over the western US where we spent 12, 18, 24 months building power plants, manufacturing plants, mining facilities, etc from the ground up.  The level of enforcement varied state by state and sometimes depended on how visible or remote our project was. In some areas it depended on how pissed off the local building trades unions were, that an out of state open shop contractor won this major project. But in almost every state we encountered some level of pressure to ensure our "travelers" registered their vehicles, obtained in state drivers licenses and when applicable paid state income taxes. In a few aggressive states like California we would occasionally have state troopers or local LEO show up at the jobsite parking lot recording every out of state license plate, and then return 30 days later to ensure they had registered the vehicle or be ticketed.

The legal requirement has been quoted accurately above, it doesn't say if you're only going to be a paid employee in this state for a few months we'll let you slide. It says as soon as you move here to take fulltime paid employment, you must become a resident within x number of days. That requirement is similar in almost all states that I worked in. But I don't deny, what's required in black & white law is not always enforced and many folks do get away with ignoring the legal requirements. But when you ask, what is the legal requirement, you cant dispute it because you know 100 people who got away with ignoring it.

Jim

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2 hours ago, JRP said:

It says as soon as you move here to take fulltime paid employment, you must become a resident within x number of days. That requirement is similar in almost all states that I worked in.

Texas, like many other states, has become much more aggressive in enforcement of these laws with the increased pressure on state budgets and the number of energy workers coming to the state. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
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I'm one of those temporary construction workers. When I was a resident of NC I worked in Texas several years. I also had to pay taxes to NC for my employment. I eventually sold my property in NC and became a resident of Texas. Lot simpler. I still work in other states too. 

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On 8/15/2018 at 6:16 AM, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

From the Texas Driver's Manual:

"When a nonresident owner or operator establishes residency in Texas or enters into gainful employment, his vehicle may be operated for 30 days thereafter, after which time the vehicle must be currently registered in Texas"

This varies a bit from Texas Code 521.029:

"OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE BY NEW STATE RESIDENTS. (a) A person who enters this state as a new resident may operate a motor vehicle in this state for no more than 90 days after the date on which the person enters this state if the person: (1) is 16 years of age or older; and (2) has in the person ’s possession a driver ’s license issued to the person by the person ’s state or country of previous residence."

You must not have looked very hard, a common trend this days.

OK

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13 minutes ago, wheast said:

OK, so far I am fairly certain of this:  If I earn an income in TX, and drive my vehicle in TX for more than 30 days, I have to register my vehicle in TX.

 

18 hours ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

Texas allows visitors to be in state 365/366 days a year.  But if you get a job then you have to get you vehicle/s registered, i.e become a resident.

Your statement is in conflict with Mark's and I know his to be correct.  My wife and I are SD residents.  We own property in TX and spend ~6 mos of each year there.  We have not sought employment in TX nor have we done anything else that would indicate that we desire TX residency.

Both of our cars are registered in SD.  One of those vehicles is "permanently" garaged in TX on our property.  Progressive Insurance rates that vehicle under the appropriate TX rates while the other one (our toad) is considered as being garaged in SD.  We have been open and honest with Progressive about where these vehicles are based and they aren't the least bit concerned about our situation.

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There are thousands of us, construction workers, that live out of state, that work in Texas for years at a time. Never have have any been make to register vechicles or become residents due to working there. Regradless what is posted here it is a non issue.

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The real thing you need to do is to consult an attorney in the state of Texas and give them the "what if". Simply put if there is anyone on this thread that can attach Esq, JD, JSD, LLM, LLB or any other of the possibilities and have a license to practice law in the state of Texas then it is all just hot air and anecdotal what ifs. 

You get what you ask for. If you are not willing to get EXPERT advice, then stand by for surprises. 

This comment is coming from an ardent follower of MURPHY!

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On 8/15/2018 at 7:08 PM, docj said:

 

Your statement is in conflict with Mark's and I know his to be correct.  My wife and I are SD residents.  We own property in TX and spend ~6 mos of each year there.  We have not sought employment in TX nor have we done anything else that would indicate that we desire TX residency.

Both of our cars are registered in SD.  One of those vehicles is "permanently" garaged in TX on our property.  Progressive Insurance rates that vehicle under the appropriate TX rates while the other one (our toad) is considered as being garaged in SD.  We have been open and honest with Progressive about where these vehicles are based and they aren't the least bit concerned about our situation.

OK

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1 hour ago, GlennWest said:

There are thousands of us, construction workers, that live out of state, that work in Texas for years at a time. Never have have any been make to register vechicles or become residents due to working there. Regradless what is posted here it is a non issue.

Not necessarily Glenn. There are plenty of officers writing those citations. You even know one of them.  Registration is cheaper than the ticket plus registration. Might wanna check that out of state DL too. 

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15 hours ago, GlennWest said:

If this was enforced, all these out of state construction workers would go home. Now that would be an economic problem.

If that is the case then I guess I've run off 10 or 12 of them this year alone.

MY PEOPLE SKILLS ARE JUST FINE.
~It's my tolerance to idiots that needs work.~

2005 Volvo 780 VED12 465hp / Freedomline transmission
singled mid position / Bed by Larry Herrin
2018 customed Mobile Suites 40KSSB3 

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Now Phil, you would get an out of state construction worker trying to make money for his family a cititaion? Heck it's hour/s just to get out of parking lots and the last thing we need is to worry about that. It's a burden just to find time for laundry. Most pay someone so we can get some sleep. I'm fortunate that my wife is with me and we full time. Most all the job ate in hotels and small TTs  I like you Phil, but right downright unneighborly. 

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