Definition: Place of Residence

[Brian Abraham]

Google has done me little good so wanting to tap the wisdom of the resident legal brains - but please don't feel left out if you're not up on the legal aspects.

Flying professionally in GA can be some thing of an itinerant existence at times. How long are you going to be in a particular job? Work can be seasonal, contracts lost and you're let go, or you move up to the next rung in the food chain etc etc.

The question I have to ask is what do you do with respect to car rego and drivers license. States generally give a few months to change over, otherwise you are deemed unregistered and unlicensed should the worse occur. Could be an extremely expensive business if you find yourself jumping borders on a regular basis.

How do you guys and gals handle it?

[scran]

Brian,

I was with Defence, living in Canberra (with family) then posted to Sydney. I went unaccompanied, which meant Defence paid for my Sydney apartment etc for the 2 year posting in Sydney before I was posted back to Canberra. I kept the car registered in ACT, and my ACT licence. I was entitled to 4 "free" (paid for by Defence) trips home a year.

I went home normally every 6 weeks or so (busy job in Sydney with lots of travel, plus family enjoyed their Sydney Weekend "house").

My argument was (would have been) that I was maintaining a residence in Canberra, and regularly living there - even if it was only for the weekend. Luckily never had to test the problem.

I was reasonably comfortable with that scenario - but given your question it might not suit everyone.

I'm now with the AFP based in Canberra (but un-sworn - so not a cop) and my boss is an AFP Officer (Superintendent) and also an ex-VicPOL officer - he lives in Canberra but maintains his car rego in Vic (and also regularly goes home to Melbourne - but his family are here in ACT with him). Has done so for 15 months now.

Hope that helps......

[compressor stall]

For my 6 years away, I kept my "place of residence" at my folks place (VIC) and the cruiser registered there (no yearly roadworthies...) but was renting in the state (NT, QLD and WA at different times).

If questioned when pulled over, I said that I was on a working holiday and I had always driven back interstate for a family reunion in the last couple of months....

[Cynical Pilot]

It's actually a tricky situation. When I moved to another state, I did not have a rental agreement and thus the new state deemed I was not a resident of their state and thus made it nigh on impossible for me to both get a licence and register my car in their state. Subsequently, both are still registered in my former state and my official postal address for everyone is in my former state and I officially live there even though I don't. As far as I can see, it's not different to working in say Wodonga but living in Albury just that the distances are greater. It's sort of a buggered up situation.

[aussiefan]

After a year of travelling around Oz we ended up with my licence and a caravan rego's to SA, car to NSW and wife got a QLD licence.

Worst is to buy a vehicle in a state where you don't live but want to stay for a month.

We traded vehicle in NSW, you have 7 or 14 days to change the rego over. Went to the rego place, got told to drive to SA change it then drive back. Got told by another person to drive it in NSW until we decided to leave, I did point out that then I would be driving unregistered but got a blank look. Ended up changing our banking address online, printing a statement showing a fake NSW address to prove residence, then changing the address back.

Bring on a national licence/rego!

[The Green Goblin]

Keep it registered in the cheapest state.

[D-J]

Keep it registered in the cheapest state.

Whilst we're on the subject which is the cheapest?

My Falcon wagon in SA cost $774 for 12 months, anyone in the other states have a figure on a similar vehicle for the same period?

[compressor stall]

Keep it registered in the cheapest state.

Partly, firstly just make sure you have it registered in a state that does NOT require a roadworthy/greenslip etc to renew the registration....

[Metro man]

Bring on a national licence/rego!

You can't do that ! Imagine all the bureaucrats who'd be out of work. Much better to have multiple licensing authorities which give the opportunity for well paid and superannuated positions to as many people as possible. Let the work be duplicated to keep as many people busy as you can, rather than just doing it once.

[Cynical Pilot]

Partly, firstly just make sure you have it registered in a state that does NOT require a roadworthy/greenslip etc to renew the registration....

Unless you plan to return to NSW in the future, else you may have great expense in getting it approved...

[Dog One]

I understand that in the NT, if resident past three months, your car and licence must be transferred. Apparently there is a legal issue with 3rd party insurance. Its hard to claim you are only visiting if you have electricity accounts/rental leases in your name.

[osmosis]

aussiefan has it. For me, it was moving around rural NSW & Qld with visits back to parents in Vic; also done it decades later in a similar fashion. I have yet to discover any bureaucratic system, private or government, which can cater for such circumstances. If you tick their individual procedural boxes they are happy, never mind that fact the information supplied is utterly fabricated. A national licence (with all it's endorsements for car, motorcycle, tractor, heavy vehicle, boat etc) would make perfect sense. What about Australian-based ships crews who travel the world and are away months at a time? They have a similar problem no doubt. What about defence personnel?

Passports don't have residential addresses yet they are regularly requested as ID. I am often embarrassed by this nation's stupidity.

Ostrailyer, yer standing in it.