I tend to confuse people often with my habit of employing the concepts of living (or residing) and traveling as though they were interchangeable--at least, when speaking of my own experiences. There are no hard and fast rules for demarcating the two notions, but I am certain that most could formulate some rough guidelines. I'm not looking for legal definitions of residency here, as such are quite easily found via a search; moreover, I'm not real keen on dealing with bureaucracies and red tape--I find such dealings to be detrimental to my neurological well-being--and legal residency is often all about the bureaucracies. Besides, for a long time I carried nothing but a passport for identification until I scored a gem of a driver's license: an Arizona state license that doesn't expire until 2035--and I don't "live" in Arizona. At least, not at this very moment. Anyhows, what I'm looking for is more the vernacular sense for which such terms and notions ought to be employed. So, when does "traveling throughout the(nation/state/province/city) of A" become "living (or residing) in the (nation ...) of A"? Does one need to reside within a certain radius--with occasional excursions outside of this radius, of course--for a certain period of time? Does one need to establish a fixed--or at least temporarily fixed--domicile? Does one need to be employed locally, have a certain number of acquaintances, subscribe to the local newspaper? Does one need to acquire the proper papers or permits for residency? It seems to me that one can still legitimately claim to live--or have lived--in suchandsuch place, without satisfying any of the preceding criteria, save the first (and depending upon whatever arbitrary period of time is named). Although, I have no doubt that some might argue otherwise. Thoughts? Oh, and if someone feels this thread ought belong in the Linguistics subforum, please move.
I'd say that whatever your passport says that your from is your primary residence whether or not you live there most of the time.
The verb "to live" is a little too imprecise for the modern era. My tenant's daughter went off to college in Iowa a year and a half ago, and has only come back for a few one-week visits. Yet she still has a Maryland driver's license claiming that she "lives" here. The reason is that she resides on campus in a dormitory, and the Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles does not allow an on-campus university residence to be listed as a "home address" on a driver's license. The Internal Revenue Service is just as confusing. As many of you know, my "real home" is in California, and my wife "lives" there, doing all the repairs and remodeling and landscaping--and patiently waiting for me to make enough money to retire and "live" there with her. In the meantime I actually "live" in my "second home" in Maryland, working in the Washington region because this is the only place in America where there are jobs. The IRS has special tax rules for people who own their own home. (The mortgage interest is tax-deductible, which makes a huge difference.) We wanted to buy a house here, because I was paying a fortune in rent, but we were afraid that not being able to deduct the mortgage interest would make it even more unaffordable. However, there are so many people like us, that the IRS invented the oxymoron "second primary residence" for people who live in two places. So we bought the house and take the tax deduction. So, instead of using the single word "live," maybe you'd do better to use the noun "home" when it's appropriate, and the verb "reside" in other cases. My "home" is in California, but I "reside" in Maryland. Still, although I can see why you'd be reluctant to say that you "live" in Arizona or any other state because you apparently don't stay in one place very long, nonetheless if you've "resided" in the United States for a long time, it doesn't seem too imprecise to say that you "live" in America, even if your "home" is in some other country. Some retired people spend all their time traveling in a motor home and sleep in a different campground every night. But they still "live" in America.
