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North Carolina Residency
Masters Home
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All domestic graduate
students who are not an official resident of North
Carolina are expected to apply for in-state
residency after their first year in the program.
All residency decisions for entering or continuing graduate students are
determined by the
Residency Determination Office in the Graduate
School. For up-to-date information on the guidelines used in making residency
determinations and the process to follow in requesting in-state residency,
please click on the Office's home page link above.
This document is designed as a quick reference for graduate students who wish to know
more about applying for NC residency for tuition status at the University of North
Carolina at Charlotte. If you want a more in-depth examination, please consult A Manual to
Assist the Public Higher Education Institutions of North Carolina in the Matter of Student
Residence Classification for Tuition Purposes. A copy of the Manual is on reserve in
Atkins Library. Please keep in mind that this handout is only a brief overview of certain
points of the law; the law of the Manual controls all decisions.
All residency decisions for entering or continuing graduate students are determined by
the
Graduate School .
Under North Carolina law, to qualify for in-state tuition for a given term, you must
prove that you established your domicile in NC and maintained it for 12 continuous months
with respect to the beginning of the term at issue (see
in-state residency ). To prove that
you have established a bona fide domicile in NC, you must prove the following:
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That you were physically present in the state,
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That you intend to make NC a permanent home indefinitely,
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That you were not in NC solely to attend college (explain this clearly when completing
the application for residency).
Because it is difficult to determine directly the intent of a student to make North
Carolina home, residency classifiers necessarily must evaluate the actions that you have
taken that may indicate this "domiciliary intent." The law also states that these
"acts of residency" must be performed "in a timely fashion." The
Manual lists the following considerations which may be significant in determining this
intent:
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Do you live in North Carolina?
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Are you registered to vote in North Carolina?
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If registered, where did you last vote?
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If you drive, where did you last obtain a driver's license?
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If you drive, is the car you drive registered in North Carolina?
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Do you own a home or other real estate?
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Where is your personal property listed for taxation?
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Where do you spend your vacation time?
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Where do you work?
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Where do you keep your personal property?
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Where did you file your state income tax return?
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Where did you last attend college?
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Where did you live before enrolling in a university or college?
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If you have non-resident parents, are you financially independent?
Residency classifiers weigh all the evidence you furnish in your application for
resident status, and it is necessary that the preponderance (or greater weight) of the
evidence supports your having established NC domicile 12 months before the beginning of
the academic term for which you seek to be classified as resident. If the evidence shows a
cluster of significant events occurring at about the same time (within the same week for
example), the classifier will start counting from that point to determine if the
twelve-months requirement has been met. If instead the evidence has accumulated over time,
the classifier must decide at what point a preponderance of evidence shows the intent to
establish NC domicile, and that is the date on which the counting will begin.
To begin the residency classification process, you must complete an Application For
Residency For Tuition Purposes. You may apply for reclassification before or during a
given term. The absolute deadline for filing a residence status application is the last
day of exams for that term.
THE EFFECT OF MARRIAGE ON RESIDENCY
No one automatically obtains North Carolina domicile solely by marrying a North
Carolina resident. If both spouses have established a NC domicile, and one spouse has been
a domicilary longer than the other, the member of the couple who has the shorter duration
of domicile may borrow his or her spouse's duration of domicile to meet the 12 months
requirement. However, the two durations cannot be added together to meet the requirement.
NON-UNITED STATES CITIZENS
If you are not a U.S. citizen, you may or may not qualify for resident tuition status
on the same basis as a U.S. citizen. It depends upon the type of immigration documents you
hold. If you are in the country on a student visa, you cannot qualify for in-state
tuition. If you have one of the visas that does not allow you to establish domicile, and
you later receive a visa that does allow you to do so, the time you spent in North
Carolina under the old visa will not count toward the 12-months requirement. After you
receive the new document, you must establish North Carolina domicile and wait 12 months.
For more detailed information concerning the domicile of non-U.S. citizens, please consult
the Manual.
PERMANENT RESIDENT ALIEN STATUS
If you are a permanent resident alien and hold a "green card," you have the
same capacity to establish legal residence as a U.S. citizen. However, you must establish
NC domicile for 12 months after you receive permanent resident alien status. You cannot
count the time you spent in NC while under a different status or visa. If you have applied
for permanent resident alien status, but it has not been granted yet, you are considered
as still being in the country under the visa or document that you had before you applied
for the "green card."
APPEALS
If the Graduate School rules that you are not a resident for tuition purposes, you may
appeal that decision to the Graduate Residency Appeals Committee. The decision letter will
inform you how to appeal.
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