I received this very thoughtful email from Victoria and hope the responses help both her and others thinking about moving here. I especially picked her email because he correctly read my 10 steps to finding a job in Hawaii piece before contacting me so I know she’s doing a little bit of homework. I’ll respond with my comments in-line.

Aloha Peter,

Aloha!

My name is Victoria (from London) and I am writing to you because I want to express my gratitude for the amount of value you have provided throughout your website. It is very helpful as I have been finding it hard to find information about the topics you discuss.

Excellent. I’m glad this has helped.

My question is based on moving and working in Hawaii.I am on Step 3 of your list.

I appreciate you going through the list. If you make it to step 10 you’ll be living here!

I have just returned from my month’s vacation in Maui and I have fallen in love with the island. I can’t really explain it but I feel compelled to return and really give back to Hawaii.

I know exactly how you feel. Same thing happened to me back in the mid-80s. I got off the plane first in Maui and the moment I landed, looking at the mountains I knew this would be the place for me. The week that ensued confirmed it for me. I was hooked, just like you!

I will be honest, I am grateful for my life in England, but it is just as expensive to live in the UK, and the lifestyle isn’t what suits my preferences. I am not oblivious to the fact that moving to a new country has its challenges, but I feel everywhere online I turn there is a negative talk about moving to Hawaii, as if to say it is virtually impossible, especially being a foreigner.

The negative stories are mostly true. This place is not for everyone. There are only 1.4 million people living here, or 0.019% of the world’s population. We’re not the 1%.  We’re the 2% of the 1%!

I am returning to Hawaii later this year, and I wanted to ask for some advice on how I could go about starting a new life here. Reality, I know it’s not easy, but I am willing to try.

Like Yoda says, “Do or do not – there is no try”.  If you “try”, you won’t make it. Come here for a vacation and stay for a while. Make that your “try”.  But if you decide to come here, make it a 100% commitment.   When I came here I had a different kind of commitment in my mind – when things got tough, and they did, I did’t have the money to fly back home. I had no choice. I had to make it work. And I did. Make that same kind of commitment.

The issue I have is, I am a British citizen born and raised in the UK. I have a degree and work experience in teaching; however , I know that job availability is limited (so I keep reading), and there are tonnes of barriers for internationals to go through to get to Hawaii.

I know that the Hawaii Department of Education has an acute teacher shortage, so that might be a good place to start.

You say you can go and create a business online, but as a foreigner, is that something I could do and legally work in USA?

That’s really more of a question for immigration in general; not so much Hawaii in particular. Sorry that I can’t be much more help on that end.

I have looked into starting a business as I currently own a tutoring business in UK, but I feel completely set on creating a new life in Hawaii, despite the challenges I know I will face.

In your immigration research, you may find it easier to come to the US if perhaps you buy a business.  I’ve seen tutoring businesses come and go for sale here and you may want to try that.  There are many online business for sale resources you can look for and perhaps that may be one thing to look into.

I know it is not easy, but do you have any advice or any tips to help me? I would be eternally grateful for your response!

I know you said you’re on step 3, but did you really complete step 2?  How many online connections have you made with people in Hawaii? I really really did spend a lot of time thinking through the 10 steps and put them in pretty good order though I’ll admit steps 2 & 3 can be interchanged. So once you complete step 3, make sure you really really complete step 2.   Put any of your comments on this blog post so everyone else can see them too and good luck.  Keep us posted!

Mahalo,

Victoria

Hey well at least you’re using proper Hawaiian opening and closing on your email. Good start!