Admissions to California university

To study California state university there are "In State" and "Out of State" tuition. What conditions to qualify to be " "In State"? If we live in California 3 years on H1B, will it be enough (or we need green card)?

In California, H-1Bs (and their dependents) who meet the residency requirements are able to pay in-state tuition at state colleges since they fall under the "eligible alien" category (they are considered to be able to "establish a domicile in the United States"). So you would likely qualify for in-state tuition.

http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/residence/noncit.htm
http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/html/slr.html#WhoResident
http://www.ucsd.edu/current-students/fi ... izens.html

Yeah, California is one of the few States that recognizes non-immigrant categories for in-state tuition rates. Bear that in mind if there's any chance of going to another State.

Yeah, it's on a state by state basis. Some states (such as FL) do not allow any "non-immigrant" categories from being able to pay resident tuition regardless of how long they've lived in the state. I know that CA, TX, OH, NY and WA recognize H-1Bs as being eligible for resident tuition at their state schools, and there are probably other states as well. OH actually extends resident tuition to TNs/TDs as well.

It's based on a federal court ruling where a dependent of someone on G got them to rule that they should get in-state rates.

Not sure how much of the country that covers, I assume it was in the 9th circuit which means the west coast, Hawaii, Alaska and some of the western States but that doesn't mean other States can't do it too.

Are you talking about Toll v Moreno? I think that went to the Supreme Court. I think the ruling had to do with the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, that denying residency status for the purposes of tuition runs counter to federal law, if the federal government deems them to be able to take up residence in that state, and thus violates the Supremacy Clause.

In which case it's national, but clearly it's not based on the comments on here in the past. And it's really old as well, 1982. Oh well, quote that case law to them if they give you a hard time I guess. But it's only for non-immigrant categories that allow you domicile in that State, like E, G, H-1, H-4 and O-1.

Not sure I agree with the UCLA website, A is for diplomats so they wouldn't be resident in the State but TN-1 can acquire residency in the State.

Bit of a debatable point really. Depends on your definition of "domiciled".

There was a case in California involving someone on a TD trying to obtain resident tuition rates at a CSU campus. They ruled that TDs don't qualify for resident tuition because TNs/TDs are not eligible to establish permanent residence in the US. (Carlson v. Reed)

Neither are A, E or I using that rationale but they're listed on the UCLA website. Only in California could they generate this much caselaw.

Lots of caselaw which creates even more ambiguity. Personally, I think anyone in the US on any kind of work permit (or dependent status) should be able to qualify for resident tuition at a state university. These people are paying state income taxes after all.