I still have a UAE driver's license as well, but with their new one card, I presume it isn't worth much. My brother's stuff comes to my house (he lives in Australia) and I don't care, but I've questioned whether it was per se legal. The law in this area seems thoroughly gray.

Consider this definition of residency under New York law:

http://www.dmv.ny.gov/resident.htm

I doubt that a New York ex pat living in London would meet it.

Everything I've read suggests you want to keep a U.S. Driver's License and some U.S. credit cards because if you ever move back to the U.S. and don't have these things, you will have to start back from square one in terms of building credit, etc.

I presume that with the US getting tougher about ID, they will eventually start building databases of Mailbox, etc. and will start connecting up these with driver's licenses. Most states say that you have to list your actual residence on the license and not a PO Box or a PMB.

I'm attaching a link to an article which talks about some of the complications about what constitutes residency for voting purposes:

http://plus.lefigaro.fr/note/america...0120422-898496

Here is the IRS's take:

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Inter...Residence-Test

Your point is that I have a solution in search of a problem and I agree with you to some extent, but my concern is that the present solution exists on a bit of a wink and a nod basis.

I would think that it would be easier to deal with the US Embassy and Consulate in the country in which you reside rather than have fifty states with fifty different systems.