State of Residency conundrum

Hi, All-

My husband and I are about to relocate from the US to the UK. (He is a UK citizen, I am dual.)

We have been living in OH for the last 4 1/2 years while I've been at grad school, but I am originally from PA, which is where my parents still live. We both have OH driver's licenses, and he also has a UK driver's license.

I have been reading-up today on state residency requirements and have gotten myself very confused about what I'll need to do before we move back to the UK and while we're there.

Firstly, I had been hoping I could transfer my OH license back to a PA one using my parents' address so that I would still be able to drive in the States on visits home. After doing my research today, though, I guess that seems like that's not advisable/might be illegal. I'm kind of heartbroken that potentially I won't ever be able to drive again unless I eventually get a UK license (though I currently remain 100% terrified about driving there). If anyone could confirm I am right in my understanding that it's not possible to maintain a PA license legally from abroad, that would be helpful.

The other thing about this state residency stuff that gets my goat is the absentee voter registration. If I am to use the last residence I've lived as my address, that would mean I forever have to vote in the state of OH, right? (Even though we only have a temporary tie here and I'd much rather my little vote be counted in PA.) We will be living at my parents' for a week and a half before we fly over to the UK...so in theory, I suppose I could use their address as my last address "immediately" before relocating in the very literal sense, but I'm not sure if there would be inconvenient state tax implications as we don't plan to live back in the US again and doing that might just be over-complicating things. I can't find anywhere a very clear answer about what the requirements are for that last address for voter registration purposes to help me figure out if I can interpret their rules in a way that would allow me to use PA instead of OH as my "last US residence address". Any similar ways you have solved this problem or links you could pass on would be much appreciated!

 

Some states don't have specific residency requirements for a DL, while others do. I don't know about PA, but I will say that you should look carefully at the requirements for 'residency'.

W/R/T voting, AFAIK, your absentee ballot is tied to the state of voter registration. That is a pain for some, less so for others. It would likely be difficult to register to vote in PA without proof that you are resident there.

Another thing you need to consider is state income tax - some states try to hold onto you forever, while some do not. I would look very carefully at the implications of this; for me, it overrides a lot of other considerations.

Get a UK license whether you intend to drive or not. You can drive on your US license for 12 months, but auto insurance will be much cheaper (assuming you are listed on a policy) once you get past the 'new driver' stage. I use my UK license in the US with no issues.

Thanks for your reply, vadio!

I am about 8 weeks out from our move now, and I realize I am hitting peak freakout about all the things I didn't know to consider. 

I think I'm realizing that I need to be doing research on three things: residency as it relates to driver's license, residency as it relates to absentee voting, and residency as it relates to state taxes. The tricky part seems how they may or may not be related in a way that no one authority seems to address clearly. I get that I can turn to the PA Dept of Transport/DMV on license issues, PA voter registration on voting, and IRS/PA state revenue for tax info, but no one source seems to talk about whether having residency for one of those aspects might affect the others. Or is there somewhere I'm not thinking of?

In any case, I find I am so thankful again for this resource as I navigate these logistics again. UK Yankee is a sanity-saver!