Working on the RV road
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Thursday, February 28, 2008

FL part-year driver's licenses- hurray!

States require adults to obtain a driver's license and re-register your vehicles when you become a resident. States vary in the length of time you are allowed and what actions you take to become a resident. However, most agree that if you are working as an employee, you are a resident. If you do obtain a new driver's license, you must turn in your old one.

At the Florida driver's license Web site, I discovered that FL has a part-year resident driver's license. You do not give up your old driver's license. Your FL license is stamped "good in Florida only." This should solve the problem for those working on the RV road. Now you can be a legal driver in FL without giving up your driver's license in your home state.

Does anyone know of any other states which do this? If so, please let me know. Jaimie

For information on Jaimie's 2nd edition of Support Your RV Lifestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, see RVBookstore.com.

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posted by Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak at 4:05 PM

6 Comments:

  • Jamie,

    The fact that if you work as an employee in a state, you must change your residence to that state in not something that I have ever heard mentioned in any workcamper publication or in any other context. It was never mentioned during your talk at the Gypsy Journal Rally. People travel to find work all the time and I don't think they need to change their residence or get new driver's licences. I am not aware that the people who follow the harvest, have to get a new driver's liceses in each new state. Do you have any references to back up this statement?

    Jerry

    By Blogger jerryg860, at March 2, 2008 7:31 PM  

  • Most states do require you get a d.l. and vehicle registration in their state if you are a resident and you become a resident when you take a job. In CA you have 10 days. At the same time, few Workampers do so - and they drive carefully. They are, however, risking fines, if caught.

    If you check with the department that licenses drivers and registers vehicles in the state you are going to be working in, you'll find reference to it. I list all the websites for the DMVs in my book though usually a Google search will turn them up.

    If you are an independent contract worker or self-employed, you can do business in most states legally without changing your license, though one independent contractor did tell me that in either VA or NC he had to get a new license.

    I do cover this in my book but generally don't include it in my seminars. Usually someone brings it up. At GJ I don't believe anyone did so we never discussed it.

    It is rare that you hear of a Workamper having problems. I have heard that along the borders of CA, the police are more likely to check car registrations because they do have out-of-staters working there. In Skagway, AK for a few years, the police were stopping and ticketing a number of summer employees, though I believe that situation has calmed down. Some states are more aggressive than others and laws vary state by state. It's something you have to make up your own mind about. Jaimie

    By Blogger Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak, at March 4, 2008 6:46 PM  

  • No body has said anything about if you have a CDL you cannot have two licenses at one time, and thats a federal law............

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 15, 2008 7:22 AM  

  • In the case of CDLs, as far as I know, employers require that you change your CDL to their state for insurance reasons so they (and you) are covered. You need to turn in your old license when you obtain one in a new state.

    There may be a couple of exceptions. If a company has a multi-state operation you might be ok if you are licensed in one of their states. Or if you are an independent contractor delivering RVs, as another example.

    In the case of Florida, you can have the temporary license in addition to your regular one. The FL license is stamped that it is only valid in that state. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

    By Blogger Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak, at March 15, 2008 11:58 AM  

  • If you have any misgivings, use PACE; it's a Calif. "umbrella" corp that provides you employment based on your choice of residence -- AND, you work wherever you get the work!

    I am a Calif. resident, have worked the past 10 years as a contractor (Have Gun, Will Travel), mostly in other states -- same as many other employees, I find my own gigs, corp. is my employer-of-record and they do the W-2 & back-office work, I do the consulting work. We used to fly, that now sucks, so we drive (or RV), more than 8 mos. per year.

    We're on the road now, left home in Feb, will be east of Miss. until May (maybe longer), so will visit Mom in Ohio, work in AL & other states, but file taxes, etc. in Calif --- not the cheapest in the US, but that's our home, so we just bite the bullet, and enjoy the day!

    As an independent contractor, I've worked more than just a few months in another state and never lost any sleep over this issue... just don't accept W-2 employment with anyone; always insist on being hired as a contractor thru PACE! After all, it's always a temp-hire situation!

    HTH!

    Ciao,
    Don

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 15, 2008 7:01 PM  

  • I work in Ca.at campground reg. in Wi. but work in a city with a lot of snowbirds so the city welcomes us all, and some of the works in the campground have been here for 10 years or more and reg. out of state. no problems so far.

    Larry

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 16, 2008 12:09 AM  

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