california residency requirements dmv

THE COMPLETE INCOMPETENCE AND INEFFICIENCY OF OUR MUNICIPAL BODIES IN THE U.S.This morning I received a text message from my mother and it was a picture of a jury summons letter sent to me, in my name. The envelope had HUGE BOLD RED LETTERS on the front that said “Notice of Failure to Respond to Your Jury Summons”. Inside the letter was a list of penalties, fines, and even a threat of jail time for not responding to the jury summons.For those of you who are foreign to the U.S. court system, every U.S. Citizen is required to perform jury duty if summoned after they turn 18. Some people never get called for jury duty (my mother and brother have never once received summons), and some people get letters to do it every two years (me). Which is an entirely different rant altogether. If you don’t respond to the jury duty summons or fail to attend on the day they asked of you, you can face large penalties/fines or face imprisonment. It’s pathetically drastic and excessive. But whatever, civic duty, fuck yeah?ANYWAY, this morning I get this text message and I immediately chuckle because the jury summons is for Los Angeles County and I live and have lived in Portland, OR for over 3 years and also haven’t lived in my mother’s house for over 5 years. I figured, this would be a simple fix, that I would call the Los Angeles County Courts hotline and let them know I’ve moved and they need to update their records per the DMV.The conversation goes like this:*ring, ring* Dial one for english‡ punch in your jury code…punch in your jury code again…list of options that don’t apply to you…mash the fucking zero button until a representative gets on the line….Operator: Los Angeles County Juror Services, how can I help you?Me: Hi, my mother just notified me that she received a letter in the mail that I have failed to report for jury duty.Operator: So why haven’t you responded?Me: I am, right now, this is the first I hear of it and I think you have your records wrong, I have not lived in Los Angeles County nor California for over three years.Operator: Have you updated your records with the DMV?Me: Yes, I am a permanent Oregon resident and have been for 3 years. I have an Oregon Driver’s license and I am registered to vote in Oregon.Operator: Well, that’s not what our records show.Me: Where do you get your data?Operator: From the California DMV.Me: When was the last time you have updated your data? Because even in the California DMV I have moved from my mother’s house and yet she’s still getting letters from you.Operator: We don’t need to update our data. You need to update us.Me: Huh? I need to call the juror service hotline and let them know I no longer live in California? Why don’t you just update your data with the DMV?Operator: It is your responsibility to update the DMV.Me (as calmly as I could muster): I have updated the DMV, I have an Oregon Driver’s License, you haven’t updated your records.Operator (now having big attitude): You’re the one who hasn’t notified the DMV because our records show that in California you still live at your mother’s address and you’re telling me that you now live in Oregon but we never received proof of that.Me: You’re not understanding me, when I re-register to vote and change my permanent address, it is up to you to update your own records and communicate with the California DMV that has received notice from the Oregon DMV that I no longer live in California. I’ve done my due diligence, your system is inefficient, you’re wasting paper and my time.Operator (now yelling at me): Well, if you want us to update our records you’re going to have to fill out a form and prproof of Oregon residence via ID and a utility bill.Me: No, I’m not going to do that. You can call the Oregon DMV yourself and verify that I have changed my address years ago and sort this out. I don’t have time for this.Operator: So you want to be in contempt of court for not showing up to your jury duty??You get the gist of this 30 minute phone call. It went around in circles. I would like to say that this woman was just bad at her job or didn’t know the system, but unfortunately, THIS IS THE SYSTEM. The municipal governments throw millions of dollars into a hole that is labeled “bureaucracy” and the red tape is so fucking thick you need a pair of scissors with a 50 carat diamond blade to cut through it. This woman is one of hundreds of interactions I have had living in the U.S. and trying to do my due diligence. Paperwork gets lost, going online is still apparently a nonexistent unicorn for municipal governements, phone operators are rude, everything costs you an arm and a leg. It takes months and sometimes years for you to have an arraignment on a simple traffic violation. I can almost guarantee you that even when I do prproof of Oregon residence, my mother will still get a jury summons for me at some point in the future.It’s inefficient, it’s a waste of my precious time, it’s expensive, it’s wrong for tax payers to continue to pay for these “services” and it’s quite frankly insulting. There has to be a better way to get things done.

No. Neither by mail or online does the DMV send you a Change of Address Confirmation. YoGov does. (Option 2 below)72 hours after submitting your Change of Address request you can log back on and check to see if your address has been updated.FYI, The rules for California (which are fairly similar across other states) is that you have 10 days from establishing new residency to update your address on file with the DMV.Here are the two online options that I know about:How to update your address in California:Option 1: As mentioned, you can use the California DMV website, which requires several steps. This includes going to the California DMV website, creating a profile and answering 5 security questions. According to a YoGov user survey this takes around 15–20 minutes. You may have to call the DMV in person if you get stuck on the profile setup.Option 2: You can use the third-party site YoGov to fill out an express change-of-address form. They they follow up with you by email to let you know when your change of address has been updated. This process takes around 2–3 minutes.My experience:I have created a California DMV profile in the past using their system and it was not easy. The security questions were so obscure (your high school star athlete?) that I forgot and had to call in because they didn’t have a way to reset my password online.I used the YoGov form recently from an email they sent me and it worked quite well. They got back to me the next day with an update and then after a couple days they confirmed that my address was indeed updated on the DMV system. It was worth the few bucks for convenience.

I used a postal box for a number of years because I moved and traveled so often. It was all right until the laws changed and I had to have a home address for my driver’s license. But, for a while it made people look twice at my license if I was using it for identification.

Yes. In the summer of 2021. the federal government informed California that there would be no more extensions, and that we had to get all of our driver licenses and identification cards in compliance with the Real ID Act that was signed back in 2021. So the remainder of the year, the DMV worked with both the Department of Homeland Security and our own State legislators to come up with an acceptable way to process the new federally compliant, or Real ID, as you will, driver licenses and identification cards. Fast forward to Jan 22, 2021. when the DMV first started processing the Real IDs, the guidelines mandated to us by the federal government, mainly DHS, stated that one residency document was acceptable in order to process the license or identification card, along with sufficient proof of identity, like a birth certificate or passport, acceptable proof of name change, if applicable, like a court document or a marriage license, and sufficient proof of a Social Security number, through a Social Security Card, a W-2 form, or a 1099, for example. In November, however, the DMV was notified that per the DHS changing the requirements, that one residency document was insufficient, and two residency documents were needed. So to answer your question, it was the federal government who changed the rules, at the last minute, and pretty much put the burden on the DMV to come up with a way to fix the problem that they created. I hope this answers your question.

Complete form REG 227, duplicate title, and send it in via mail. They will mail you a duplicate title. Keep in mind that only one copy of a title is suposed to exist at one time. If you have one already you dont need another one.

There are two parts to this question.First, how long does it take to go to the DMV, complete the process for the licence, and then walk out.Second, how long does it then take the state of California to send the actual, physical licence to you.The first part really depends on whether you’ve made an appointment (you can make appointments on-line and skip the lines at the DMV, but be warned that these are often booked for several weeks in advance. So if you need to get it done in the next couple of days, you may need to just go and wait in the line).At the DMV, if you have a valid licence from another state, you will only need to prepare the paperwork (which can be downloaded, printed, and filled out prior to going - highly recommended), and complete a “written” test of the rules of the road. These days, this test is no longer paper and pencil, but done on a computer. It takes about 10 minutes to complete, and is actually pretty easy.Once you pass, you will wait for the next step, which is for the results to land in the system (about 5 minutes), and for the window to be free (can be right away, can be 20 minutes depending on traffic). They will collect your fee, take your picture, and print out a temporary licence (which is valid for driving). You will walk out the door, all in 30–60 minutes.You will not have to take a road test.If you are from a foreign country and have a valid licence, depending on the reciprocity of their government and the state of California (remember - in the US, driver licences are not federally issued), you may have to take the road test. But you will not need an international driver’s licence. Do not waste your money on these.As to the second part, once you walk out of the DMV, they will tell you that it can take up to four weeks for the physical licence with your picture on it to arrive by mail. In my experience, it has never taken this long. When we repatriated to the US from France in 2021. my licence arrived in the mail about 10 days after I left the DMV. 2–3 weeks is about the norm.

California is running up against the requirements of the federal “Real ID” law in order to make California driver’s licenses acceptable as identification at federally-controlled facilities, such as courthouses and airports. This standard requires at least two documents to show residency.If you don’t get the Real ID-compliant driver’s license, then I suggest you apply for a passport if you don’t have one. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to get onto a commercial aircraft.

The requirements for a California noncomerical drivers license are: A valid Driver's Licence from another state or a valid California Official Certificate of Live Birth. Pass a written test on driving laws. Take and pass an on Road Driving Test.