Temporary Absences

If you are a resident for fee purposes and have left or will leave California temporarily, you could retain resident status by fulfilling the temporary absence requirement. It is your burden, as the student, to clearly demonstrate retention of California residence during periods of absence from the state.

Some steps that you (or your parent if you are a minor student) should take to retain resident status for fee purposes at the University of California include, but is not limited to, the following:

• Satisfying California resident income tax obligations. It should be noted that individuals claiming permanent California residence are liable for payment of income taxes on their TOTAL income, including income earned outside the state (abroad or in another state).
• Continuing to use a California permanent address ON ALL RECORDS (educational, employment, military, etc.).
• Attending an out-of-state public institution as a nonresident for the entire period of enrollment there.
• Retaining California voter's registration (voting by absentee ballot).
• Maintaining California driver's license and vehicle registration. If it is required (verification must be submitted) that you change your driver's license and/or vehicle registration while temporarily residing in another state, the license MUST be changed back to California within 10 days of the date of return to the state and the vehicle registration must be changed within 20 days of the date of return.
• Returning to California during all vacation periods.

Establishment of any of the above ties outside the state of California (including another country) is considered to be inconsistent with a claim of California residence. Any residential ties which must be established outside of California during a temporary absence must be immediately relinquished upon return to California. It is your burden to provide convincing evidence regarding the necessity of establishing ties to other states/countries during your absence.

Written verification of the above steps should be provided to the Residence Affairs Officer in the Office of the Registrar upon request.

Note: If you are a nonresident student who is in the process of establishing California residency for tuition purposes and you leave California (for example, to return to your former or parent's home state) during nonacademic periods, your presence in the state will be presumed to be solely for educational purposes and only convincing evidence to the contrary will rebut this presumption. Students who are in the state solely for educational purposes will NOT be classified as a resident for tuition purposes regardless of the length of stay.

If you are a student who has been classified as a resident for tuition purposes and you leave the state temporarily, your absence could result in the loss of your California residence. Again, only strong evidence will rebut the presumption that you are/were in California solely for educational purposes. The burden of proof will be on you to verify that you did nothing inconsistent with your claim of a continuing California residence during your entire absence.

If you are classified as a nonresident for fee purposes because you did not maintain CA residency during your entire absence, you must re-established residency (see How to Establish Residency).