Drivers License

[john j]

We are planning to become liveaboards within 6 months. Since we will be selling our home, where do we get drivers licenses if you have no home state??

[svmariane]

What I did in Washington state: Move into a marina under a short-term contract. Use the marina as your "home" and mailing address. Go to DMV and apply for the license. License in hand, anchor out.

Washington and California allow DL renewal via the DMV website; other states may allow the same. That should hold you for several years.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, John J.

[Kettlewell]

It varies state to state, and is somewhat different in all 50 of them, but basically you have to maintain a state address, and in most of them that means a "street address." I have always used a trusted relative's address, but some use mailing services like St. Brendan's Isle in Florida that have apparently worked out the kinks so you can use them like your "home address." These days, due to Homeland Security concerns, most states have enhanced requirements to prove your actual street address, and it can be somewhat tricky in certain states. For example, here in NY they are looking for things like a utility bill, lease, property tax bill, bank account statements, checking accounts, etc. The absolute best thing is usually to keep your old driver's license and keep renewing it as it is usually easier to just maintain one than to get a new one.

I should add, that I believe all, or at least most states, consider you as domiciled there forever until you establish a new domicile in another state. In other words, you might think you are leaving the state, but their tax department especially considers you as living there until you can prove you are living somewhere else.

[Inkwell]

Lots of people use the services of St. Bernard in Green Cove Springs, FLA. Check out their website for details. They offer mail forwarding and a legal mailing address service.
Mail Forwarding Services at St Brendan's Isle

[belizesailor]

Texas does long renewal times (my last one was 10 years!) and on-line renewal.

Lots of of discussion of this topic on CF so also search the forums.

[Kettlewell]

By the way, a lot of people choose St. Brendan's Isle or one of the other Florida mailing services as their "home address" because there is no state income tax.

[jcapo]

Originally Posted by Inkwell

Lots of people use the services of St. Bernard in Green Cove Springs, FLA. Check out their website for details. They offer mail forwarding and a legal mailing address service.
Mail Forwarding Services at St Brendan's Isle

A great mailing service. I don't know how we could along without it. The ability to have your mail scanned if necessary and viewed via the Internet is wonderful.

When I renewed my Florida license I couldn't use St. Brendans as a residence. The driver lcense folks in Marathon know the St. Brendans address is a mailing service. They allowed me to use St. Brendan's for my mailing address and my boat as my residence wherever it happens to be.

Other places/states may not be as picky as Marathon about addresses.

John

[bobconnie]

We are lucky like Texas here in Louisiana, Long term lics, renew by e-mail or just online ! if ya have no tickets in the state ya got it made ! we have a 65ft piece of Bayou side property,with a dock, cost 10 grand and it has an address, it's all we need ! the Post Office Lady sends us our Fed Doc papers we let her know where we are by phone! theres nothin like a small town in the south !!

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by jcapo

A great mailing service. I don't know how we could along without it. The ability to have your mail scanned if necessary and viewed via the Internet is wonderful.

When I renewed my Florida license I couldn't use St. Brendans as a residence. The driver license folks in Marathon know the St. Brendans address is a mailing service. They allowed me to use St. Brendan's for my mailing address and my boat as my residence wherever it happens to be.

Other places/states may not be as picky as Marathon about addresses.

John

We became Florida residents when we moved to Nevis, using SBI's services. We were sent a certificate from the Clerk of the Court attesting to the fact. We subsequently got our Florida driver licenses in Coral Gables on one of our trips back to the States. All we needed was a bank statement addressed to our SBI personal mailbox and our former state's driver licenses. No questions were asked about the SBI address.

I think Marathon was out of line in questioning your SBI address. SBI is a perfectly legal personal address. For example, the commissioner of elections in Clay County (SBI's home county) knows perfectly well the SBI personal mailboxes are held by people who don't physically reside in the state, and has no issues with box holders voting in national, state and local elections.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by jcapo

When I renewed my Florida license I couldn't use St. Brendans as a residence. The driver lcense folks in Marathon...

The driver license folks in Marathon are WRONG! There is absolutely nothing in the laws of Florida that would prohibit you from using an SBI address on your drivers license. Lots of people do it, in lots of different counties.

Of course, when you're in their office, and they don't know the rules, then you only have a couple of options...
1. You can try to explain the correct rules to them.
2. You can go somewhere else, where the people actually know the rules.
3. You can deal with their rules and just try to get the job done.

Which one of the above options is best really depends on your situation. Good luck.

[ReMetau]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

The driver license folks in Marathon are WRONG! There is absolutely nothing in the laws of Florida that would prohibit you from using an SBI address on your drivers license. Lots of people do it, in lots of different counties.

Of course, when you're in their office, and they don't know the rules, then you only have a couple of options...
1. You can try to explain the correct rules to them.
2. You can go somewhere else, where the people actually know the rules.
3. You can deal with their rules and just try to get the job done.

Which one of the above options is best really depends on your situation. Good luck.

We were told the exact same while in the Keys. Florida required a physical address and SBI was a mailing address. We have SBI as our registered mailing address, but our physical address is our boat document number and the city we "reside" in.

[teejayevans]

Originally Posted by ReMetau

We were told the exact same while in the Keys. Florida required a physical address and SBI was a mailing address. We have SBI as our registered mailing address, but our physical address is our boat document number and the city we "reside" in.

I use SBI address as is, I didn't tell them what it was, as far as they are concerned, its an apartment, I use boat insurance/health insurance paperwork as proof of residence.
Tom

[Kettlewell]

I use SBI address as is, I didn't tell them what it was, as far as they are concerned, its an apartment, I use boat insurance/health insurance paperwork as proof of residence.

A lot of people apparently are able to use SBI for their drivers' licenses, so it must be legit. I suspect what is happening in offices not in Green Cove Springs is that they are required to run the address through the postal service system to see if it is legitimate, which will nearly instantly return something like "mail box service" for that address. For example, if you tried to use the address of a McDonald's Restaurant, it would tell them. Obviously a McDonald's wouldn't be someone's residence address. When registering in Green Cove Springs itself there is obviously some way around this problem. Most businesses and government agencies are required now to run addresses frequently and if your address is somehow funky it will show up as a reject.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

.............................These days, due to Homeland Security concerns, most states have enhanced requirements to prove your actual street address, and it can be somewhat tricky in certain states........................

"These days" have been going on a long time. When I moved aboard in the early seventies the reason given for not allowing the use of a PO Box as a home address was due to legislation following Lee Harvey Oswald's killing of JFK with his use of a PO Box as his "home" and for his receipt of weapons. None the less, I too have had success with Saint Brendans Isle for many years.