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Not sure if this has been covered, but I have a dilemma. According to Texas motor vehicle law, as a resident, I am to have all my vehicles registered in Texas. According to Nevada Law, a non-resident must register a vehicle in Nevada after it has been operated in that state more than 30 days. Does this mean I need to have two registrations? If I am a non-resident, do I need Nevada insurance as well as Texas insurance? How does this work?
If you are truly visiting in Nevada you do not need to register your vehicles. In Nevada visiting means visiting, but if you are actually residing in
Nevada.ie: paying utilities, receiving mail etc. with vehicles registered in Texas you must register in Nevada.
If you are truly visiting in Nevada you do not need to register your vehicles. In Nevada visiting means visiting, but if you are actually residing in
Nevada.ie: paying utilities, receiving mail etc. with vehicles registered in Texas you must register in Nevada.
According to the Nevada DMV, any non-resident auto, whether tourist or not, that operates in Nevada for 30 days or more in any calendar year, must be registered in Nevada. There is no exemption for any reason, other than seasonal farm worker, student or military.
Can you cite what 'truly visiting' means? Does it include work camping?
According to the Nevada DMV, any non-resident auto, whether tourist or not, that operates in Nevada for 30 days or more in any calendar year, must be registered in Nevada. There is no exemption for any reason, other than seasonal farm worker, student or military.
It would seem you have answered your own question. If that is what the code says and you stay in Nevada more than 30 days, then you must register in Nevada. The easy answer is to leave the state for a night every 30 days. You cannot have a private vehicle registered in two different states, so you cannot have your vehicle registered in both Nevada and Texas. If you change the state of registration, you would need to notify your insurance company as it may affect your rates.
I believe that you have discovered another of those conflicts between the "letter of the law" and with the "intent of the law" which happen all to often in legislation but are the reason for so much of the legal terminology in our society and part of what keeps our lawyers working. I have spent a pretty good amount of time in the Las Vegas area and have had friends winter there many times without ever getting NV license, registration, or insurance and they usually stayed for 4 - 5 consecutive months. As is so common with laws of this nature, the actual practice in the area is to only enforce the verbiage you are quoting with those who are permanently employed in the area, whether that may be based upon the intent or perhaps upon the economic impact of the snowbird population is open for debate, but that it is the practice in fact.
It is not legal to have any vehicle registered in two states at the same time and due to the requirement of a title or registration issued by the state, I doubt that it would even be possible. I know from experience that when you move and register a car in the new state, they require some proof of ownership in either your title or your vehicle registration (not all states issue a car title) and that the registration from the previous state is not returned to you and in most cases (if not all) the new state DMV will then notify the previous one of your new registration causing it to be canceled.
It can be debated, and often is whether the state you winter in could enforce their law to make all snowbirds and seasonal RV workers get their cars registered in that state, and possibly with snowbirds as well, but that is a subject for legal arguments as the reality is that in practice there are many who spend time repeatedly in NV either as snowbirds or as seasonal, part-time workers and who never worry about the NV registration and who are never expected to do so by the local officials or law enforcement agencies.
It would seem you have answered your own question. If that is what the code says and you stay in Nevada more than 30 days, then you must register in Nevada. The easy answer is to leave the state for a night every 30 days. You cannot have a private vehicle registered in two different states, so you cannot have your vehicle registered in both Nevada and Texas. If you change the state of registration, you would need to notify your insurance company as it may affect your rates.
Leaving the state doesn't solve anything. The law says 30 days in any calendar year. My reading is that this means that if I spend a couple of weeks in January, a week in June, and a couple of weeks in October (for example), the total number of days is 14+7+14 or 35 days. During the second week in October, the law says I would be required to register my vehicle in Nevada. I understand the comment that I answered my own question. The reason I was asking was that the law seems so outrageous and contradictory.
As a resident of Texas, I am required to register all my vehicles in Texas. When I moved my license to Livingston, I had to sign a statement stating this. This requirement has been discussed ad nauseum in the forum. Now Nevada comes along and says I need to register in their state. I am not a resident (they don't care). That means that I need to choose which state's law I need to violate, Texas or Nevada. I may have answered my own question, but I haven't solved my dilemma. Has anyone else operated an out of state vehicle in Nevada with no intention of becoming a resident? Have you ever been stopped and cited? What have you done?
Thanks for the response, Kirk. It seems that the choice is to violate the Nevada law and hope I'm not called on it. Since I am a seasonal worker for the next couple of months, maybe I can skate. If a police officer asks me how long I have been in the state, can I decline to answer? I wonder if Nevada operates like Connecticut, where they compel the RV parks to report anyone that stays longer than 90 days so the town can send them a property tax bill. Seems like that would either be a nice windfall from the state or motivation for RVers to avoid it.
Again, I would love to hear from someone that has run into this problem.
Again, I would love to hear from someone that has run into this problem.
I have heard anecdotal stories of that happening, but I have also known many others who stay there for years without problem, even if they experience a traffic stop. I doubt that you will find anyone who has had the problem as it is a very rare if ever occurrence. Just to get a little better information, I am going to send a link for this thread to a friend of mine who is retired from the LVPD and who currently resides in Las Vegas. 
I have found the solution! One of the exceptions to the law is for 'migrants'. This is someone who moves from place to place for seasonal work. Thanks for all the comments.
Or working traveler.
From the NV state web site:
NRS [/size]483.141[/size] [/size]“Resident” defined.[/size]
1. “Resident” includes, but is not limited to, a person:
(a) Whose legal residence is in the State of Nevada.
(Who engages in intrastate business and operates in such a business any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer, or any person maintaining such vehicles in this State, as the home state of such vehicles.
© Who physically resides in this State and engages in a trade, profession, occupation or accepts gainful employment in this State.
(d) Who declares that he or she is a resident of this State to obtain privileges not ordinarily extended to nonresidents of this State.
2. The term does not include a person who is an actual tourist, an out-of-state student, a foreign exchange student, a border state employee or a seasonal resident.
3. The provisions of this section do not apply to drivers of vehicles operated in this State under the provisions of NRS 482.385, 482.390, 482.395 or 706.801 to 706.861, inclusive.
(Added to NRS by 1973, 1569; A 1989, 706; 1997, 1221)
Hubby and I own a house in NV and are careful to follow all the rules applicable to seasonal residents. We are not required to register vehicles in NV during our season visits. In researching this question, I found out that NV offers a seasonal resident ID card. Sounds like a good idea, i'll get one when I return.
But if you're working for Amazon, you might want to follow the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Since you won't be a migrant agricultural worker, you will fall into the definition of a NV resident and legally will be required to register your car.
I was an officer in Nevada for 30 years. I didn't have a NRS in front of me when I answered, but AprilWhine quoted the correct NRS. NRS 483.141 (2) says it all. You don't need to register you vehicles.
except that a "Seasonal Resident" does not include someone who takes paid employment in NV, if that applies here
"If you are a resident of another state but live in Nevada for part of the year, you may be eligible for a NV seasonal resident ID. To be eligible for a seasonal resident ID card, you must:
Live in Nevada for at least 31 days consecutively every year.
Maintain temporary residence in NV.
Return to your state of jurisdiction or your usual residence at least once every year.
Be registered to vote, or pay income tax in a different state or jurisdiction.
Not conduct a trade, profession, occupation or paid employment in NV. "
NV is really not any different than most other states who all have very similar language in their state vehicle & tax laws.
Whether you are required to register depends not only on the length of stay, but the purpose of the stay.
In almost all states they allow exceptions for temporary & transitory purposes. But almost all states void the temporary & transitory exception as soon as you take paid employment in the state.
From the NV state web site:
3. The provisions of this section do not apply to drivers of vehicles operated in this State under the provisions of NRS 482.385, 482.390, 482.395 or 706.801 to 706.861, inclusive.
(Added to NRS by 1973, 1569; A 1989, 706; 1997, 1221)
Section 482.385 (which is one of the sections where the above doesn't apply) says:
NRS 482.385 Registration of vehicle of nonresident owner not required; exceptions; registration of vehicle by person upon becoming resident of this State or accepting gainful employment or enrolling child in public school in this State; penalty; taxes and fees; surrender of nonresident license plates and registration certificate; citation for violation. [Effective through December 31, 2013.]
1. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 5 and 7 and NRS 482.390, a nonresident owner of a vehicle of a type subject to registration pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, owning any vehicle which has been registered for the current year in the state, country or other place of which the owner is a resident and which at all times when operated in this State has displayed upon it the registration license plate issued for the vehicle in the place of residence of the owner, may operate or permit the operation of the vehicle within this State without its registration in this State pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and without the payment of any registration fees to this State:
(a) For a period of not more than 30 days in the aggregate in any 1 calendar year; and
( 
Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a), during any period in which the owner is:
(1) On active duty in the military service of the United States;
(2) An out-of-state student;
(3) Registered as a student at a college or university located outside this State and who is in the State for a period of not more than 6 months to participate in a work-study program for which the student earns academic credits from the college or university; or
(4) A migrant or seasonal farm worker.
2. This section does not:
(a) Prohibit the use of manufacturers’, distributors’ or dealers’ license plates issued by any state or country by any nonresident in the operation of any vehicle on the public highways of this State.
( Require registration of vehicles of a type subject to registration pursuant to the provisions of this chapter operated by nonresident common motor carriers of persons or property, contract motor carriers of persons or property, or private motor carriers of property as stated in NRS 482.390.
© Require registration of a vehicle operated by a border state employee.
...
482.385.1.b.4 exempts migrants or seasonal farm workers. Since I'm not working on a farm, I can't be the latter. I tried doing a search for Nevada's legal definition of migrant, but I couldn't find one so I turned to Google. The definition of a migrant ( https://www.google.com/search?q=definition+of+a+migrant ) is "a worker who moves from place to place to do seasonal work". Because I'm there to work at Amazon, I seem to fit that definition, which is why I proclaimed myself a migrant.
AprilWhine's post shows where the law defines who a resident is. This may be sufficient to avoid state taxes, but it doesn't appear to be relevant as to who is required to register a vehicle in Nevada since this section of the law says that it applies to nonresidents. While I may be able to make a credible argument that I'm a migrant (who knows if it will work), if you're a snowbird or own property and spend a lot of time there, I'm not sure how you'll be able to avoid registering in Nevada. I couldn't find any statement where it mattered that you didn't intend to become a resident or not. I'm not a lawyer (and have never played one on TV), but the law seems pretty clear.
This whole topic got me interested in how each state handles long(ish) term visitors to their state. I found a great resource here: http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/laws/registration-for-non-residents/ . What a mess! Depending on where you visit, you could be registering your car several times a year and also be in violation of the law in other ones. The only safe thing that I can think of to stay legal is to keep moving and don't stay in one place longer than 30 days.
Bobi Ruby and Dick McKee: With your experience, how would you expect an officer to respond to someone who is pulled over, leaving the parking lot at Amazon with an out of state plate? If an officer asks me how long I have been in the state, should I decline to answer? Should I claim 'migrant' status?
Edited October 29, 2014 by mrschwarz
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