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Below are changes that have happened since we wrote the specific Web page on that subject:
Changes to our:
RV License - Truck License & Driving License
Lone Star State Registration
We no longer have the qualifications required by Oregon State to tax our vehicles, and sooner or later would have the same problem with the driving licenses. They have enforced the law that states we must have an actual residence address. All we have, and still have, is a mailing address in Oregon which we have no intentions of changing.
Vehicle Taxation - A visit to the local City Hall where we were given all the relevant information on how to tax our vehicles in Texas.
Texas law requires that you have all vehicles (includes RV's) checked for roadworthiness (less stringent version of MOT in Britain) by a state inspection agency. This entailed taking the 5th Wheel & truck into town for inspection at a local garage and both passed inspection. Back to the City Hall with all the necessary paperwork and we took delivery of the Number plates for both truck & 5th Wheel.
It would take about 2-3 weeks for the Title deeds (Log Book) to arrive at our local Texas address. Once received we took them back to the City Hall and had our Oregon Mailing address added so future correspondence would reach us.
Driving License - The next task is to obtain a Texas drivers license. The License authority in Aransas Pass couldn't help us without a letter from the Social Security office verifying that we did not have a Social Security number, so it's off to Corpus Christi (what problems will we have with government officers?). The person we dealt with in Corpus Christi Social Security office was as pleasant and helpful as anyone could wish. He completed a form of "Waiver" for both of us and FAX'ed it to the local Licensing office such that it was waiting when we arrived. On arrival we filled in a simple form, answer a few questions, got our photo's taken and receive our temporary version of the license. The final version will take about 4 - 6 weeks and is valid until 2007.
Now we know why a lot of full time RVers tax their vehicles in Texas - it is inexpensive and very easy to do.
Visa Renewal Information
We have been asked by our number one fans, the McQuin-Roberts to add information about renewing our Visa.
When we decided we wanted to come to America for a 2-3 year holiday, we wrote to the American Embassy in London requesting information. On receipt, they sent us forms to fill out and gave us an appointment to visit the Immigration Department.
We conformed to their requests, flew down to London and arrived at the requested time - along with a hundred other folk. Unknown to us it was 'first come first serve basis'. Had we have known that we would not have killed time in a cafe around the corner.
Three hours later we were putting our case to the Immigration Officer, who on learning that we intended to spend quite a lot of money setting up our new RV home, was only too pleased to sanction our request and give our passports the official immigration stamp, which is invaluable when the Visa renewal time comes.
On arriving in America we produced our stamped passports and were issued with a six month visa.
Two months before the renewal date we got a copy of the "Application to Extend" form from the INS (Immigration Naturalization Service) Web site: http://www.ins.usdoj.gov
With the completed form we enclosed the following:
On receipt they sent us a letter with a confirmation number. Quite often our Visa has expired long before the new one arrives, so this confirmation number is proof that you have re-applied.
At the time of writing this we are awaiting the arrival of our new visa, which is already late. They have cashed our cheque so all seems to be well - we hope.
RV Insurance:
Our RV insurance was due for renewal in early May and our insurer had informed us they couldn't renew our insurance as they no longer dealt with the agent in Oregon who arranged the original insurance 4 years ago. Wullie called the insurance company and asked if we could insure directly with them or could they suggest another agent? Now the fun started - they wouldn't insure us because we had made too many claims in the past four years. This turned out to be effectively a "black ball" situation as virtually nobody else would insure the RV either because of the number of claims. We eventually obtained insurance for 6 months at a rather high premium. During our four years here everything has run very smoothly and we patted ourselves on the back at how well we had planned. So what went wrong in this instance? Fulltimer RV Insurance includes many facets of house Insurance such as Loss of property. We lost a camera in 1999 and discovered we could claim on the RV Insurance, so we did. Our awning got ripped off by a strong wind and had to be replaced. We had a $500 excess and the repair cost $598 so we claimed effectively $98. If we had known this would contribute to our present predicament we would not have claimed. We have had two tyre blowouts in the past 2 years which resulted in damage to the RV and insurance claims. We have since replaced all the tyres, which perhaps we should have done after the first blowout. Our insurance provided as a benefit/feature a recovery service. When we experienced our second blowout we availed ourself of that service in Florida and two guys arrived and changed the tyre for us. The blowout caused over $1500 of damage but the insurance company said this constituted two claims. A $200 claim for recovery & a $1500 damage claim? Fulltimer RV insurance includes provision for hotel/motel accommodation if your RV is off the road for some time. We had our RV repaired whilst we were on a trip up north to play Curling. If we had got it repaired immediately, the repairs took 2/3 days and we claimed for a Motel room - would that have been 3 claims?
Conclusions:
