I wonder how important residency is to your college choices. Would you not apply to Berkeley if you know you will not qualify for resident tuition? Would you make more of an effort to put together your application if you know you do qualify as a resident? From my perspective, I don’t think residency is the big question you should ask up front. If you really want to attend Berkeley, you should put your application together and apply. Worry about residency after you are accepted. The worst case scenario is that you pay out-of-state tuition for one year before you qualify to become a resident.

I can tell you two things, though. The first is that even if you don’t get in as a California resident, you can probably establish residency for your second year. I got my PhD at UCB and was able to become a California resident after one year.

The second is that your situation of being overseas may work out for you. One of the graduate schools I went to before Berkeley was the University of Minnesota. My father was in the Navy & was able to keep a Minnesota residency. When I went to the University of Minnesota, they let me go as a resident — despite the fact that I went to High School in NJ and college in PA and my parents were living out of state. If your parents are legally considered residents of California (which I suspect they are) then you will probably be allowed to register as a resident.

It might help if you use a California address when you apply.

THat’s going to be a little difficult. Why? They just have to look at your transcript. It’s going to show your school was in another country.

It sounds like you’ll just have to pay out-of-state tuition for a year before you can establish CA residency.

I would say your parents are if the are paying California state taxes and stuff.