Domicile

There are so many tourists and snowbirds in FL that they aren't pulling people over for out of state plates. So no, you probably aren't going to be taken away in cuffs. There are fines though.

You're required to register your vehicle within ten days of becoming a resident. I think you could buy yourself a few more days if you sign up for an appointment within that ten day window but book the appointment out into the future another week or two. If you wait too long though, they'll charge you delinquent fees when you eventually do register for your plates.

Also, don't bother trying to save some money by letting your current tags expire. They'll back-date your tags to expire based on your previous expiration date.

I think the deadline for your drivers license is 30 days, but you might as well deal with that at the same time you go in for your plates.

The requirements are set by the state, but the actual work is done by the counties. So you'll need to go to the tax collection agency for your county to make the appointment.

Here's a link to the state's New Resident page:

https://www.flhsmv.gov/new-resident/

There is a difference between Domicile and Residence. Think of a college student who goes to an out of state college. His car can be licensed in the state that he lives in (that is the college), but his tax state (domicile) is his home state. Domicile is the state you PLAN TO RETURN TO.

Think of all the snow-birds that live 6 months is one state and 6 months in a different state. They do not change the car tags ever 6 months.

You can get your Florida mailing address without establishing a domicile. Its' just a place where you have mail sent, not where you live. At any point after that, you can use your mailing address to establish your domicile. We got our address about 3 months before we domiciled. We changed our address to the Florida mail service on our credit union account, and a couple of weeks later printed off a credit union statement with that address on it. We also changed our cell phone address to the Florida mail service address, and printed off a statement. A couple of months later, we had those statement copies, along with all the other documents needed to establish Florida residency, and took them to the county clerk office in Florida to get our vehicle tags, drivers licenses, and voter registration on the same day.

You should probably do some reading and learn what you do and don’t need to change.

With respect to DL and tags, it’s whatever the state says. Not hard to find.
Real world, it’s not a huge deal. In fact the only real world risk is a random traffic stop literally for out of state tags, and you having a reason to decidedly NOT wanting to get pulled over!
And the only time that is likely is if you’re frequenting the same small town and the same Barney gets a hunch you should have in state plates.

Having moved about 10times in the last 25 years, I learned to not worry about it.
Sometimes I would have been wrong by one states laws or the other anyway.

Bottom line not a big deal.

And what would you change on a passport?

Grit dog wrote:
In fact the only real world risk is a random traffic stop literally for out of state tags, and you having a reason to decidedly NOT wanting to get pulled over!

It's the other scenarios I'd be worried about...

"You got a tail light out, boooay."

"I'm pulling you over because your license plate is too dim..."

Grit dog wrote:
And what would you change on a passport?

A passport has absolutely nothing on it identifying your domicile when you receive it. There is a place on a page for YOU to write that information in, but there are instructions in the passport, itself, telling you to write it in pencil so you can change it.

dedmiston wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
In fact the only real world risk is a random traffic stop literally for out of state tags, and you having a reason to decidedly NOT wanting to get pulled over!

It's the other scenarios I'd be worried about...

"You got a tail light out, boooay."

"I'm pulling you over because your license plate is too dim..."

My point perzactly!
I don't care if an overzealous barney wants to question my license plates, or tell me I got a taillight out....until I do!
And there are times, that I'd rather not take that risk....;)

Bobbo wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
And what would you change on a passport?

A passport has absolutely nothing on it identifying your domicile when you receive it. There is a place on a page for YOU to write that information in, but there are instructions in the passport, itself, telling you to write it in pencil so you can change it.

Sorry, that was a rhetorical question to the OP.