Hi Everyone,
First time poster here. I have a highly unusual situation that prevents me from exercising my Second Amendment Rights.
I am a law-abiding American Citizen who lives the majority of the year in Udonthani, Thailand with my wife and daughter and would very much like to be able to carry when back in the States on business or while visiting friends and family.
Neither my home state of birth, Michigan, nor my adopted state of Florida (surprisingly) will issue concealed carry permits to non-U.S. Resident American Citizens (otherwise known as an expatriate Citizen). They will also not honor non-resident permits issued by other states that may be held by expatriate Citizens for the very same U.S. Residency requirements (sounds confusing I know, but one must be a U.S. resident in order to be eligible for a Florida non-resident permit...go figure!). Michigan is even worse in that it honors only permits issued by a home state (meaning one must physically reside there). Yes it sucks indeed to be a non-Resident American. Having a permanent domicile in Florida doesn't matter either because I physically reside overseas. I have been in contact with the Florida legislators and have asked them to remove the U.S. residency requirement for U.S. citizens, but have made no progress. I'm sure to face the same difficulties in Michigan, not to mention many other States.
However, because I believe that National Reciprocity will be passed sooner or later, I might be legal if I manage to get a carry permit from just one single state and so I'm researching which, if any state, I might be able to get a non-resident carry permit from. Fortunately the National Reciprocity Act (in its current form) doesn't (yet) have a requirement that a U.S. Citizen actually reside in the United States (so I'm keeping my fingers crossed).
So far I'm aware that Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington issue permits to non-residents.
As discussed earlier, I've already eliminated Florida. Now I need help from this forum in narrowing down my search further.
As you might imagine, I can't really show up in person to apply for a permit (so application by mail, must be ok, not in person), likewise I need to find a state that has very lax requirements for training (i.e. no training requirement or they accept training from Michigan or Florida, which I could take during my next visit home). Ditto for fingerprints (i.e. no requirement or will accept fingerprint cards taken out-of-state).
Getting a permit, while living overseas is really far harder than it might seem, but as they say "impossible is seldom tried".
Wish me luck and help out with advice if you can, thanks!
First time poster here. I have a highly unusual situation that prevents me from exercising my Second Amendment Rights.
I am a law-abiding American Citizen who lives the majority of the year in Udonthani, Thailand with my wife and daughter and would very much like to be able to carry when back in the States on business or while visiting friends and family.
Neither my home state of birth, Michigan, nor my adopted state of Florida (surprisingly) will issue concealed carry permits to non-U.S. Resident American Citizens (otherwise known as an expatriate Citizen). They will also not honor non-resident permits issued by other states that may be held by expatriate Citizens for the very same U.S. Residency requirements (sounds confusing I know, but one must be a U.S. resident in order to be eligible for a Florida non-resident permit...go figure!). Michigan is even worse in that it honors only permits issued by a home state (meaning one must physically reside there). Yes it sucks indeed to be a non-Resident American. Having a permanent domicile in Florida doesn't matter either because I physically reside overseas. I have been in contact with the Florida legislators and have asked them to remove the U.S. residency requirement for U.S. citizens, but have made no progress. I'm sure to face the same difficulties in Michigan, not to mention many other States.
However, because I believe that National Reciprocity will be passed sooner or later, I might be legal if I manage to get a carry permit from just one single state and so I'm researching which, if any state, I might be able to get a non-resident carry permit from. Fortunately the National Reciprocity Act (in its current form) doesn't (yet) have a requirement that a U.S. Citizen actually reside in the United States (so I'm keeping my fingers crossed).
So far I'm aware that Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington issue permits to non-residents.
As discussed earlier, I've already eliminated Florida. Now I need help from this forum in narrowing down my search further.
As you might imagine, I can't really show up in person to apply for a permit (so application by mail, must be ok, not in person), likewise I need to find a state that has very lax requirements for training (i.e. no training requirement or they accept training from Michigan or Florida, which I could take during my next visit home). Ditto for fingerprints (i.e. no requirement or will accept fingerprint cards taken out-of-state).
Getting a permit, while living overseas is really far harder than it might seem, but as they say "impossible is seldom tried".
Wish me luck and help out with advice if you can, thanks!
