Class A State Residency Requirements

What's the deal with working outside the State that issued your Class A license? Are you required to relocate or change your legal address to the state your employer is based in? And are some states better to be licensed in than others? I'd appreciate any advice I can get on this, thanks!

Welcome aboard Bud!

You do not have to change your license based on the company you work for. You simply have to have a residency in the state your license is issued. In 15 years of driving I never once worked for a company that had a terminal in my home state. Doesn't matter a bit.

The two advantages I can think of off the top of my head for having a license in certain states is:

1) Companies hire from certain areas, and some offer a lot more opportunities than others. For instance, Florida is the most difficult state to find a trucking job because only a small number of companies run down there. There is very little freight that comes out of the state. States in the Midwest have probably the highest number of companies that hire from there.

2) Some states do not have any state income tax. Tennessee, Florida, and a few others don't have any. So that's a small advantage right there.

Just be careful you don't just up and try to set up residency in another state without doing research first, for example.. I moved from Colorado to New Hampshire, BEFORE I could test for my CDL permit I first needed to have my Plastic New Hampshire License(which can take up to 60 days here as they only have 1 place in the whole state that makes them) which I applied for AFTER I started going thru a 160hr course @ a CDL school. I needed my permit before I could move from classroom to the yard and practice backing and shifting. I begged and got the state to grant me a waiver but I don't think they will always do that. It took 53 days to get my plastic license I had it for 2 weeks and just turned it in Monday to get my Paper temporary CDL-A license oh and I cannot even test for my endorsements until I have that Plastic License in hand so another 50+ days and I start ROEHL Orientation Monday 7am sharp in Marshfield, Wisconsin. I guess the moral of the story is don't just think its as easy as filling out a piece of paper and changing states. If your going to change residency I'd call the state Licensing division and get all the info before your standing at the DMV counter wondering why they make things so difficult like I did.