II. Establishing “Domicile” or Legal Residency:
A. To be a legal resident in North Carolina, a student must first physically live in the State. This is a simple test of where one has a dwelling or home.</p>
<p>B. The student must also show a bona fide or “good faith” intention of staying in the State permanently or at least for an indefinite amount of time (GS 116-143.1 (c)). This is a more difficult test than physical presence, but the key element is that the student plans to establish permanent residency in N.C. and is not in North Carolina only to go to school. </p>
<p>To determine a student’s intentions, all relevant factors must be evaluated, especially a student’s conduct. Several actions, if done in North Carolina, will be used as indicators of intent to remain in the State. The following acts are examples of what may serve as evidence of residentiary intent:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Paying North Carolina state taxes; </p></li>
<li><p>Having a North Carolina driver’s license;</p></li>
<li><p>Having one’s car registered and licensed in the State;</p></li>
<li><p>Voter registration;</p></li>
<li><p>Owning a house or land in N.C.;</p></li>
<li><p>Employment in N.C.;</p></li>
<li><p>Having bank accounts in the State;</p></li>
<li><p>Spending substantial time in the State during vacations and holidays;</p></li>
<li><p>Maintaining social and business relations in the State;</p></li>
<li><p>Parents are residents in the State (will be used as a factor even if the student is over 18-years old (GS 116-143.1(e));</p></li>
<li><p>Serving on jury duty.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Factors generally unfavorable to students attempting to establish in-state residency include:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Student does any of the activities listed above in another state (such as maintaining a driver’s license in another state, owning a house in another state, etc.);</p></li>
<li><p>Student first begins living in North Carolina only after enrolling in a public university;</p></li>
<li><p>Student lives in the State only while in school and returns to another state during vacations and holidays;</p></li>
<li><p>A parent or someone outside North Carolina provides financial support;</p></li>
<li><p>Student leaves permanent possessions in another state and only brings to North Carolina what is necessary for temporary stay.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Legal residence also requires that the student have the legal capacity to remain permanently in North Carolina. For persons who are not U.S. citizens, the visa classification is important to legal capacity for residency. Persons who hold immigrant visas usually have the capacity to remain permanently in NOrth Carolina, as do persons who hold a “green card” (Form l-151 or l-551). Some non-immigrant visas may be suitable to establish capacity for North Carolina residency. However, the following visa categories are legally incapable of qualifying for North Carolina residency: B, C, D, F, J, M, P, Q, and S. Persons with those types of visas will have to pay out-of-state tuition. </p>
<p>III. Twelve Month Qualifying Period:
Once “legal residency” is established, the student must show that she/he has maintained legal residency in North Carolina for at least 12 months (GS 116-143.1(b)). This includes both the physical presence requirement and that during the 12 months the student had a good faith intention of establishing permanent residency. A student must meet the 12-month requirement before the beginning of the semester to qualify for in-state tuition. For example, if the student meets the 12-month requirement in the middle of the fall semester, the student will be eligible for in-state tuition in the following spring semester, but not the current semester.