Florida is great to establish residency, in my experience, which dates from 2014. I don't know if anything has changed.
To be considered a Florida resident, besides an address, you need to register your vehicle there and have a Florida driver's license. I will get to the vehicle registration form in a moment. I loved that form and it shows just how understanding and lenient Florida is in these matters.
Registering your vehicle the first time is expensive. There is an "impact fee" the first year of $225. Total registration cost for my Class B van was over $400. Ouch. Cars, vans are the same price as this. I do not know about other vehicles but their motor vehicle website explains this. But if you can come up with it, this is so worth it. Then subsequent years are, I believe, $62. Register online after that. You must physically bring your vehicle to an office the first time, because an agent will go out and record the VIN. You can then transfer the tag without paying another impact fee, to another vehicle if you get a different one, but you probably need to go there in person with that one, too. I consider Florida home, so this is not an issue for me.
Driver's license was $53, good for 8 years! You can renew online once for another 8 years. Then must go in person for a new photo, etc.
Florida participates in that new Federal ID program. To obtain your driver's license they will want to see various forms of ID. I think it would be good for you to call or check their website for this, because my situation is probably different from a lot. I had 2 last name changes through the years and I had to provide a table full of documents, of which I had most. Birth Certificate, Passport, and more.
The vehicle registration form made me smile and feel like yes, Florida is home. It asks for physical address, and says if it is a boat, they want the call letters, or whatever that is. If your home is a vehicle, they want the make and color. Really...Florida asks if your physical address is a boat or a vehicle, please give us a tiny bit of information about it.
You still need a real Florida address for mail, and the mail services are fine with the State of Florida. No need to hide or sneak around with this, since they already know your home is a vehicle and are cool with that.
Now about mailing service and address. I have both the Escapees and one at St. Brendan's Isle in Green Cove Springs. There is a world of difference with these. I will not be renewing my Escapees address because....in order to get your legal documents, driver's license and registration info, health insurance, whatever you need an actual Florida address for, The Escapees mail service requires you to use one Florida address for these, and the rest of your mail will go to Texas.
The kicker here is...in order to receive your mail that is addressed to Florida, you can only get it if it is first then forwarded by the Escapees to your Texas address. And they charge extra for this...$1 per each piece of mail. Then you need to pay to have all of it forwarded to you wherever you are, of course.
Both these services have a scan feature, for an extra charge. They scan your incoming mail envelopes and email you the scans. For a little extra you can have them open and scan the contents. I don't care what they see because I don't think there is too much privacy anymore anyway. Seeing the scanned contents, which you can download as a PDF, means you can have them just shred the mail and eliminates most of your need to have these sent to you. I only get things like new bank and credit cards, vehicle registration and new sticker, checks that sometimes arrive....sent to me. Stuff I can't just print a copy of.
Both these mail service places cost about the same on a monthly basis, but the Escapees want more up front. With the scan envelope feature, they are about $21 per month. Scanning contents is not much, and then charges for Priority Mail to forward mail to you.
I am going to say it because it is true...St. Brendan's Isle is just more efficient and professional. There is another one, I think from Passport America, in Crestview, but no experience with them. I had UPS store mail service for 20 years, from when it was called Mailbox Etc. Way, way more expensive. And not knowing if they have the same legal setup with Florida. Mine also did not have that scan feature, which is so wonderful. No wondering if a certain piece of mail came. And timely seeing that something has arrived that you did not expect and need to know about right away. They email you the scans the day they arrive.
St. Brendan's Isle has all the forms you need to register your vehicle and more on their website. With good instructions. You can get these and print them for free. They are really great on the phone and have it together. Don't hesitate to call them. I feel very secure with them now for 3 years.
www.sbimailservice.com
I hope I have clearly explained these things. If you have further questions for me, please feel free to ask. I love being a Florida resident. It has been great financially for me. My vehicle insurance was cut in half. My health insurance went down to less than half of up North. T'here is no state income tax. And I thank Florida for understanding that some of us do actually live in vehicles and for being A-Ok with this. :heart:
