Residency in Florida Question (Odds, etc.)

Paying for College
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<p>Hi everyone…
Sorry for this wall of text, but thank you so much to anyone who reads it and offers advice! :)</p>

<p>I will go to any of USF, UCF or UF, depending on acceptance, as USF being a sure bet (already accepted) and UF being the goal… I have applied for the Fall Term of 2015 and plan on studying Computer Science. (As a Transfer)</p>

<p>Obviously I wouldn’t ask this, if I would have grown up in Florida, so here is my background story:
I am now 24 years old and will be 25 years old by the time I would attend any of these universities. I am a German Citizen who got a student visa for studying at a community college in Texas, which is where I lived from August 2012 till July 4th 2014 (5th of July was our first day living in Florida). I got married to my wife, who is a US citizen and 20 years old, late December of 2013 in Manatee county, FL. We started the process to get my Greencard as a spouse of a US Citizen in April of 2014 and got approved early September of 2014 in Orlando. The reasons we moved to Florida are:

  1. My wife spent her childhood in Florida, this is also where I first met her, she moved away to New Mexico/Texas when she was 15/16 with her parents (Lived in Florida for 6 years).
  2. Her parents decided to move back to Florida summer of last year and she wanted to live closer to them.
  3. All her childhood friends live here.
  4. Her grandparents live here as well.</p>

<p>Now, I would like to get in-state tuition for starting of Spring 2016 (I know I won’t have enough proof to get anything for Fall 2015 either way)…</p>

<p>My wife works part time at the moment and I am doing an internship as a programmer.
What we would have as evidence:

  • Marriage License (Wife claims residency for me)
  • Florida Voter Registration (October 2014) (Wife)
  • Florida Drivers License (Early August 2014)
  • Bank Accounts (Opened Late July 2014)
  • Apartment Lease showing both as Occupants at my wife’s parents house dated for September 2013
  • Apartment Lease showing both of us as Signers October 2014 (Lease going till October 2015)
  • Paystubs of my wife’s work (Struggled to find work at first, so first constant job was starting in early October of 2014)
  • Health Insurance for both of us
  • Utilities Bills</p>

<p>Unfortunately, we don’t have any vehicle registrations, since both cars we drive are owned by my father in law.</p>

<p>That is all I can think of at the moment…</p>

<p>Will this be enough to establish residency in Florida?
How could we prove that we moved to be closer to her parents, not so I could go to school here (I would have already known which university I wanted to study at in Texas if she wouldn’t have wanted to move to Florida)?
I always read about Documents showing ties to family in Florida, what kind of documents could these be?
Would it help to show, that my wife lived in Florida for about 6 when she was younger, as in sending in school transcripts, etc. ?</p>

<p>Any thoughts or advice would be very much appreciated :slight_smile: I have never been in this situation, so I don’t know how hard it actually is to get in-state tuition.</p>

<p>Thank you so much in advance!</p>

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<p>I forgot, we also have official governmental letters by the USCIS in both of our names to verify our change of address from Texas to Florida and for the Greencard Interview.</p>

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<p>It will be enough, but for what date? It is unlikely only the Oct 2013 lease (from her parents) will be enough unless you actually lived there and can prove it. Since you didn’t start working or open bank accounts, etc. until after that, the late July/Aug 2014 dates will probably be ‘the’ date. If you really did live in Florida with your in-laws, and they can file an affidavit that swears to that, plus anything else they have (pictures of you at Christmas, in Florida, checks you may have written to local businesses, etc) that could work. If you were at CC in Texas, it’s unlikely.</p>

<p>There is a statute that the schools follow to establish residency.</p>

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<p><a href=“FSU Admissions | Error 404 page not found”>http://admissions.fsu.edu/residency/policy/faq.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Looks like you could file a residency affidavit for fall tuition since you will have have established residency for 12 months prior to the term. Otherwise you file a reclassification request.
<a href=“FSU Admissions | Error 404 page not found”>http://admissions.fsu.edu/residency/policy/faq.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Sorry I don’t know details of what Fla uses to grant these requests maybe someone else will.</p>

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<p>Thank you both for the fast replies! :)</p>

<p>twoinanddone:
Yeah, it won’t be possible to proof that prior to July of this year, the office manager just wasn’t able to print out a new lease or let us sign it, until the current one was up, so they added us as Occupants and I feel like it would be scamming to even turn this in without showing when we really moved.</p>

<p>What did you mean with “If at CC in Texas, it’s unlikely”, does this just refer to using the 2013 lease or in generally getting residency?</p>

<p>BrownParent:
Thank you, that is okay, any information I can get will help me! :)</p>

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<p>I just meant that Florida is pretty picky about actual dates. If you signed the lease in Oct 2013 but weren’t really there, that you were still in Texas and there is evidence of that such as you were registered at a CC, Florida is not going to accept the lease as evidence you were IN Florida. All the things you have from July 2014 - bank account, DL, checks being paid for some things in Florida are all going to show you actually live there. It does take time to get everything switched over, and they understand that, but you have to show what day you moved. Did you move personal possessions? Moving truck or UHaul rental receipt? Did your wife move and start applying for jobs?</p>

<p>The state will not care that her friends live there, grandparents, parents, first grade teacher. All it will care about is when she moved there.</p>

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<p>Okay, thank you :slight_smile:
Like I said, we have USCIS mail verifying our change of address, but I also think we have the Uhaul truck receipt.</p>

<p>With the Parents, I meant, since on the residency forms they always list as evidence “Documents evidencing immediate family (parents or children) in Florida”, which we have, but we wouldn’t know what kind of documents we could send in for that.</p>

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<p>CC=Community college</p>

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<p>I know, I went to one <em>cough</em> ;-)</p>

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<p>Well you asked “what do you mean with if went to CC in Texas” and I thought you were referring to that part of the sentence!! Sorry.</p>

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<p>Don’t be sorry, I am just joking :slight_smile: I know, when reading it again, I didn’t make it as clear as I hoped it would be. :smiley: No worries!</p>