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[nearlythere]

My first day here so hope I have the right location... I am considering moving to Alaska from Canada to take up a three year post-doc. Would anyone know if Canadians (in this case, my non-academic spouse) are able to work there?

[fish_actuary]

Depending on how educated (and in what field) your spouse is, s/he could look at getting a TN-1 visa and working in their particular field if there's a job available. Depending on the kind of visa you and your spouse get, your spouse may be eligible to work automatically, but you'll need to look into that part a bit more. I may be wrong on this, but if you are planning on your spouse coming in on a visa with you it could be a bit more complicated if you guys aren't officially married. The U.S. seems to be a bit obsessive about marriage and are really nit picky about it being a "traditional" marriage. So same sex and common law marriages may not count for U.S. immigration purposes.
Good luck.

[gennimom]

I also think it may depend on the field. I knew of a doctor who was married to a Canadian. His wife had her law degree from Canada, but was not allowed to practice in Mississippi without practically having to earn another degree before taking the licensing exam. (Our juris system still has some outdated problems.) They ended up moving to California, who didn't care where her degree was from if she could pass the test. Because of that, we lost an awesome neurosurgeon from our state.