To be a California resident, you must meet the following requirements:
- Be a US citizen or hold a US immigration status that does not prevent the establishment of residency.
- The following visa status holders cannot establish residency regardless of the length of time in California: B-1, B-2, C, D-1, D-2, F-1, F-2, H-2, H-3, J-1, J-2, M-1, M-2, O-2, P-1, P-2, P-3, P-4, Q, and TN/TD.
- If you are the holder of one of these types of visas – but you have filed for a change of status – then you may submit a request for residency reclassification. Your residency determination date is based on the date of your application of change of status. Make sure to include a copy of the Notice of Action from INS for the status adjustment.
- Verify physical presence in California for at least one year and one day prior to the first day of the semester.
- The first day of the semester is the residency determination date. Living in California for 12 months does not automatically qualify you for in-state tuition fees.
- Verify intent to make California your permanent place of residence.
- Under California law, if you moved to California primarily to attend a California college, then you are not eligible for in-state tuition fees.
- You must prove through official and/or legal documents that you have moved to California permanently and are not just living in California temporarily while you attend college, however long your course of study takes.
- Establish financial independence from a non-resident parent or guardian.
- Students under 19 years of age and unmarried typically derive California residency from their parents. The parents must meet the eligibility requirements and provide documentation demonstrating physical presence in California and intent to make California their permanent residence. Note: Students older than 19 usually do not derive residency from a parent.
- Alternatively, students seeking reclassification from non-resident to resident status can show financial independence from any non-resident parent or guardian according to guidelines set forth by the State of California.
- To establish financial independence, a student seeking reclassification must show the extent to which they have met the following criteria for the current and each of the immediately preceding three (3) calendar years:
- The student has not been claimed as an exemption for state or federal tax purposes by their non-resident parents.
- The student has not received more than $750 from their non-resident parents.
- The student has not lived in the home of their non-resident parents for more than six weeks in any given year.
- Failure to satisfy all the financial independence criteria for the entire period will not necessarily result in classification as a non-resident if the showing of one year’s presence and intent is sufficiently strong. However, failure to satisfy all three financial independence criteria for the current and immediately preceding calendar years will normally result in classification as a non-resident, since financial independence is of greater significance for those years.
- Financial independence or want of it, for the second and third calendar years immediately preceding the year in which reclassification is requested will be considered together with all other relevant factors in determining intent, with no special weight attached to the financial independence factor. Evidence of financial independence may be presented in the form of:
- Affidavits signed by student and parent indicating the extent to which the three criteria listed above have been met
- Copies of the federal and state income tax returns filed by the student and/or parent for the current and any applicable preceding calendar years
