I'm a US citizen but spouse was a foreign resident until 2010. In 2008 and 2009 we filed CA540NR because spouse was a foreign resident at that time. Spouse entered US end of 2009 under visitor visa but did not get work authorization until May 2010 (never out of status). Should we file CA540NR or CA540 since we have lived in California the entire year? Someone told us that your residency begins the day you file your immigration paperwork, not sure if there's any truth to that??

File Form CA540. Residency in the state of California is determined by physical presence, not immigration status.