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The address a person gives to an agency, court, board or program does two jobs. It records where they say they belong, which is why it appears in domicile determinations, residency reviews and jurisdictional arguments. And it fixes where notice is effective, so a document sent there is generally treated as received whether or not the person saw it.
Most states that opened the resident tuition rate without a status requirement made the benefit conditional on a signed undertaking. The wording varies but the substance is consistent: the signer states that they have filed to regularize their status, or will do so when eligible to. The document is filed with the institution rather than any government agency, is treated as an education record, and creates no immigration obligation enforceable by anyone.
Federal law directs states to require a social security number on professional license applications, as part of a child support enforcement scheme unconnected to immigration. Because a number is issued only with work authorization, that requirement operated as a status condition wherever a board treated it as mandatory. A growing group of states now accept an individual taxpayer identification number instead, or waive the requirement where no number exists.
Voter registration carries disproportionate weight in domicile determinations because of what it is: a formal statement, made by the individual to a government body, about where they belong, recorded with a date and generally available publicly. Eligibility to register is itself defined by residence, so registering is an assertion that the residence requirement is satisfied.
A state card that does not meet the federal minimum standard must say so on its face. The marking means one thing: federal agencies will not accept the card for official federal purposes, which in practice means boarding a commercial aircraft, entering a secure federal facility and entering a nuclear plant. It remains a valid driving license, and it remains usable for the ordinary private and state purposes that make up almost all identity checking.
Constitutional due process permits a state to exercise jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant where the defendant has purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting activities in the state, where the claim arises out of or relates to those activities, and where the exercise of jurisdiction is otherwise reasonable. The first element excludes random, fortuitous or attenuated contacts and contacts created by someone else's unilateral act.
The uniform interstate support framework operates on a one-order principle: whatever the procedural history, a single order controls prospectively. Where only one order exists, it controls. Where several exist, the rules look first at whether any issuing state has continuing exclusive jurisdiction; if one does, its order controls. If several do, the order from the child's current home state controls, and failing that the most recently issued.
Ordinarily wages are sourced to the state where the work is physically performed. A small number of states apply a different rule for employees of in-state employers who work remotely: unless the remote location was a necessity of the employer rather than a convenience of the employee, the days are sourced to the employer's state.
Federal rules distinguish sharply between preparing a document and representing a person. Anyone may assist with completing a form and must disclose that assistance in the preparer declaration; that person acquires no standing and cannot speak for the applicant. Representation is limited to attorneys in good standing and accredited representatives, is entered by a notice of appearance, and carries the right to receive correspondence and appear at interviews.
Contested domicile determinations are decided on documents, and the documents fall into a consistent hierarchy. At the top sit formal declarations to government bodies and acts involving real expense or the surrender of something: a driver's license exchanged, a vehicle registered, a resident tax return filed, a voter registration moved, a home purchased. In the middle sit the ordinary traces of living somewhere.
A civil action otherwise removable on diversity grounds may not be removed if any party properly joined and served as a defendant is a citizen of the state where the action was brought. The rationale is that the concern about local prejudice does not apply to a defendant sued at home. The words properly joined and served have produced snap removal, in which a defendant removes before the forum defendant is served, and courts have divided on it.
The traditional rule applied the law of the place where the injury occurred, mechanically and regardless of how fortuitous that place was. A large majority of states replaced it with a most-significant-relationship analysis weighing four contacts: the place of injury, the place of the conduct causing it, the parties' domicile and place of business, and the place where any relationship between them is centered.
