Hi KEV,
We are moving up to Juneau/Douglas from Louisiana the end of Jan. Our son lives in Juneau. It is encourageing to me to read this forum. On our visits there we have made some great friends. The people have been very nice to us. I am 50 yo and retired from the state of Louisiana, after 29 years service, last April. My wife got a job at the hosp. in Juneau. The only draw back is we have to be there by the end of Jan. We had not planned to move so soon. Our next step is finding a place to live. The housing up there really is a bumber. Two and three times as much $$$$ as we paid for our home here and not as nice. We do love the hunting and fishing in the inside passage ( I would post a pic. of the salmon I cought when we were up in August if I knew how to post it ) We already have our plane tickets to fly to Nome for the Iditarod in March. This is a dream come true for me.

Paul
I am in Baton Rouge, LA. I thought I was the only one who felt the spirit of Alaska. I too watch the hunting and fishing
shows from Alaska and want to be back up there so bad I can taste it. Man, I don't know the words to tell someone down here what Alaska is like. They think I am crazy. It is a place lost in time. It is like the promise land. I retired in April from the state and have been up twice to fish this summer. We saw some blacktail on Douglas the end of Aug. My wife has been offered a job at the hosp. in Juneau and things are looking like they are falling in line for us to move up in Jan. If we can find a place to live. I feel like a little boy again looking foward to Christmas and getting my first 410. Good luck to you. Hope to see you in the promise land one day .

I would always take one rainy day for hunting Sitka's over 10 sunny days. Of course that was never a problem in SE. The rut should be just about going. Give em hell.

Welcome and Good Luck!!

Kev,

I appologize for not sending a warm welcome earlier. I know you've been wanting to come up here for a long time. I can relate, it was 3 years from the time I first came up here to when we were able to move up. Hard to believe it's been over 7 years we've been up here.

Just give it a couple years to acclimate, I'm sure they'll be things you like right off the bat, and other things you could do without. Winters have been fairly mild the last several years, so that certainly helps with the acclimation.

How hard is it for a foreigner to move to Alaska ? Is there much in the way of employment there ? I saw a program on t.v sometime ago called ''The last good place '' ,and i would like to find it .AS i am tired of the attitude and mentality of people here ,when you go to work its always ,f..k you ,f..k off,you c..t,etc the immigrants seem the worst ,and expect everything handed to them on a silver platter .Cambodia ,had the most polite people i have met ,but you have to be practical ,anyone have any ideas iam single so i dont have to think about considering anyone else ,just want somewhere i can hunt, fish now and again and enjoy peace ,quiet and some decent people

I don't know what the deal is for foreign immigrants. I do know a friend from Russia who had a piss pore attorney that messed up his paperwork, has been imprisioned twice, and is now being deported. Since 9/11, imigration really seems to be cracking down. Ok, so get the paperwork straight first.

There seems to be pretty steady work, but that greatly depends on what type of work you are looking for, and what part of the state you are in. There is also sort of an inverse relationship between hunting/fishing locations, and employment. If you live right where the hunting and fishing is great, jobs are few and far between and don't always pay so well. If you're in one of the more developed areas where there is better employment, you have to drive/boat/fly to get to the great hunting and fishing.

I would say in general most people are very friendly, but that isn't to say there aren't some a-holes. Those that aren't friendly are likely only here for a short time and will be leaving, fortunately. There seem to generally be two types of people, those that came here to live here, and will do whatever work is needed to stay here, and those who come to make their fortune, but realize you can never make enough money to overcome mother nature if you don't like it up here.

You might want to come up for a visit before committing to a move. I personally would be unwilling and unable to live anywhere else, but I know others that can't stand it.

Immigration into the US is not easy. There is a progam that lets people in that belong to one of five (I believe) categories...scientific master minds, sports jocks, and some more I forgot, not for a regular guy like me. And then there's the work visa, which can be turned into a Green Card, after five years I believe. Loose the job, leave the country. I didn't want to put my family through that, plus that finding a job, and a company that will go through the paperwork for you is not easy, unless you have special skills. Lots of people came in during the haydays of software development, Y2K, etc. Lots of them ran into trouble when the software stock hype ended.

We chose for Canada, with the system they had at the time (2-3 years ago) I could get in based on my education, work experience etc. We moved and had a rough time the first year (income-wise). Doing great now, but lost a lot of money. Back to zero, so to speak.

Do a search on the google newsgroups, there are a few immigration related groups, on which immigration lawyers hand out just enough free advice to be helpful. I didn't use a lawyer, but picked up pointers from these sites. You can also read some of the horror stories and sad cases.

If you really want it, you can make it work, but you will have to REALLY, REALLY want it. One girl at one of these groups once questioned my commitment, since I was holding off moving without landing a job first...that made me thinking...do I want this or not? How bad? Am I willing to spend all my money trying to set-up my business, or while trying to look for a job after the move? We had long talks and decided yes, we would be willing to do that. And it turned out that was what it took, spend ALL our money to get settled in, find contracts, and now a decent job that fits my background and education.

Go look at those newsgroups. If you are not discouraged after reading through a few weeks of discussion, maybe you should go for it. Buy a ticket, come see what it looks like, try and get in touch with some companies you could work for beforehand, bring resumes, talk to headhunters, etc.

That said, if you have big-city skills and education, you're not likely to find that rural job that finds you in the middle of hunting heaven right off the bat. Be realistic about your expectations....etc.etc. I'll stop ranting...I've been here since February last year, and none of the frustration of the immigration process, and the hard first year has worn off just yet

Frans

Sounds like words of wisdom. AB's a better place with you there, Frans, of that I'm sure (though I'm not certain all critters may agree). Hang tough.

Leighton

I have thought I would like to move to Alaska but the wife says no way. Don't know how hard work would be to find for a Union Electrician and I really don't know how to do any thing else.getting kinda old to learn a new trade(41).

The IBEW is pretty strong, I'm aquanted with a few union electricians, though I don't bump into them that often.

If the proposed gas pipeline goes in, you can be assured there will be plenty of work for electricians.

I couldn't imagine living anywhere else, but it is definately a place you either love, or loath, there are no in betweens.

Maybe there is a chance!

How hard is it to get a job if your a pipewelder.Or a Quality control(QC)guy with exp,.in petro-chemical or shipbuilding(Navy ships,big ones).

There is alot of construction going on in the state, so I don't think a qualified welder would have much trouble finding work. I'd look into the oilfield companies NANA, ASRC, VECO, and there are others as well. Check the classifieds at www.adn.com

If you are married, before you go dragging your wife up here with no plan of returning "outside", make a visit, vacation, or some time to just see if your better half will like it. Most people either love it or hate it.

Fortunately, my wife was born and raised here, so she doesn't know any better.

Alaska is a all or nothing place.

I lived in Sitka and Barrow, and spent a lot of time all over the slope and in Fairbanks and Anchorage.

I wouldn't live on the slope unless I didn't have any kids. Putting your kids in a school that is 90-95 percent Eskimo would be a shitty deal. In grade school for a few years would probably be ok, in high school forget it. You can judge me on this if you want, but I am willing to bet you went to a school that was 70-90 percent your race. I didn't, and I don't want to put my daughter through that.

The expense of things in the Bush really pisses you off, but you just have to forget about what stuff cost in the states and remember that your in the bush. I quit looking at the prices after about 6 months.

I would reccomend what others have suggested. Take your wife, and your kids and vacation in Alaska. Sink or swim, she will tell you how she likes it.

While I worked for NSB Police there were 10 of us that got hired together, I got tired of getting screwed on pay hours and quit at 8 months, but most of the others that quit did so within 30 days. They got up there and their wives hated it.

I'll be back after I retire, but not sure where. I want to take a look at Nome, Kodiak, Tok, Circle, Anatuvik Pass, and some others.

I hope I can get a Navy recruiter job in Anchorage my last 3 years, that would do wonders for getting to see more of Alaska on the Navy's dime. That and get a house bought. I think the Navy has an office in Eagle river or Palmer too.

I will tell you that aside from the amount of hours in the day, living in Anchorage is about like living in Spokane, Billings, Cheyenne, Boise, it's a western town of 250,000 people with expensive housing, a good economy, and a military base. The plus side is that unlike those other western towns your in Alaska, though to be honest there is just as much hunting and fishing around the towns I listed, just not the same animals. The downside is that those towns have much cheaper housing, and of course pay is correspondant. A Police Seargant in Cheyenne doesn't make the same as one in Anchorage $75-100K a year.

'Bout the only thing good about Anchorage is...it is closer to Alaska than Seattle!!

quote:

Originally posted by LouisianaMan:
Hi KEV,<br />We are moving up to Juneau/Douglas from Louisiana the end of Jan. Our son lives in Juneau.

LM - just wanted to say hello as I am from J-Town. My wife is an RN in the short-stay unit at the Horse-Pistol (BRH.) I know lots of folks who work there. The housing market is insane. Prices have increased %12 for the last 3-4 years. Nice place to live, but expensive and wages in the public sector have not been keeping up.

MM

D99,

Of your list, I'd take Kodiak in a heartbeat. I've traveled a fair bit in the state since moving up, and Kodiak is the only spot I've been so far that I'd be willing to move to. But with my job I need to be within driving distance of Anchortown, so the emeral isle is out for now.

The best thing about Anchorage is that Alaska is 15 minutes away by air.

I lived in AK for About 3 years full time and 2 more part time.

I was flying for a living and spent time in Aniak, Nome, Kotzebue, Fairbanks, Deadhorse and Anchorage.

While I really miss Alaska and never wanted to leave in the first place. (Never drag a women to Ak without a basic reality check first.) I have to agree with D-99. You don't want to raise your kids in a native only village. Kotzebue is the worst shithole I've ever lived in. The ladies get a bit tired of being cat called to from drunken savages and stepping over passed out puke soaked drunks in the street and in our apartment got a bit old as well. Not to mention the frequent wife beatings in town and the occasional knife fight just to keep it interesting. Village life on the west coast is no place for civilized women or kids.

(No Kotzebue is not dry town it's damp very very damp!)

But the hunting was really good!

When I move back I am going to look real hard at Kodiak or somewhere down the Penn.

My biggest mistake last time was not knowing what the true living condition were in the villages out west or up north.

As I just re-read this I realized that this could sound pretty negative to Louisianaman. South of the Ak range is a completely different story and much nicer place to live. Don't let my view of the Northern village life jade your opinion of Se Ak these two places are night and day.

Good luck on your new life and give my best to your wife. I'm envious.

The northern coast people are very racist, as are the peoples on the northeast coast.

Here in southwestern it is a different place, much nicer to live here. Here, your kids would simply be treated as other kids.

Up in the mountains along the Kuskokwim, the Athabascan Indians are very racist. They blame everything on the "white man". Staying out of the villages is the best way to avoid problems. It should be noted the Athabascans here in the delta do not like everyone, Yup'ik Eskimo included. So they are at least catholic in their dislike of everyone.

.

"I will tell you that aside from the amount of hours in the day, living in Anchorage is about like living in Spokane,"

I thought I was the only one that thought Anc. was just like Spokane I lived in spokanowhere 65-96 only go back for funerals. God I hate Anchorage Hope your move went / goes well! You will love Alaska