Can H4 Indian Wives work from Home?

bharthi · Apr 1, 2005

I am a housewife in the US. Can Wives in H4 status work from home?

uma · Apr 1, 2005

What they are telling me is that H4 Wives can't work. That is the reason, I was trying to figure out if I can do something on ebay. Any one in H4 Visa status and working?

Please post your experiences.

Roshni · Apr 1, 2005

H4 - can they work?

I have heard that people in H4 status can do volunteer work, but they should not make any money out of it. I mean they cannot be employed for salary.

It will be good to know if there is an eligibility to work from home or run a home based business.

Roshni.

indira · Apr 2, 2005

People in H4 visa can't work for a company and get paid. However, you can work from home for a company if they are willing to pay you in cash.

Typically it is hard to convince an American company to do that. Hence, you should try this with an Indian company. Typically it works well if you go through some contacts.

I know of a friend of mine who works for an Indian company and get paid in cash. But it is difficult to find opportunities were everything comes together.

ammu · Apr 2, 2005

I have come across only Indian companies who are willing to do H1B provided we work for them or their clients. They also want to sign a contract that gets them too some long term income.

sheetal · Apr 8, 2005

change from H4 to H1B visa status

Offcourse..if you change your visa status from H4 to H1B visa status, you can work for the company that is sponsoring your visa.

But if you are in H4 visa status, you can't work and get paid. But there are other alternatives.

I recently did some freelance work for a British company and asked them to wire the payment to my Indian account. It worked just fine. You can try that.

swku_2000 · Oct 5, 2005

I am on an H4 visa shifted 2 weeks back to usa. I am putting up in New jersey. Can someone guide me any opportunities here of work? Can any one also tell me how to start the freelancing work. I was working as a fashion merchandiser in Bangalore, India before and am a post-graduate from NIFT,New Delhi

Shakthi · Oct 5, 2005

Freelance opportunities

Hi skwu_2000,

Though it is not legally allowed to work in H4 Visa status and get paid, there are lots of freelancing opportunities available in the USA.

I'm not sure whether you had a chance to check this thread about freelance projects that you can get from Elance work from home jobs.

They have projects listed in various categories and I'm sure you should be able to find some in fashion desinging too.

Also, if you can get in touch with the help of your local community with lots of boutiques (selling Indian dresses) - they might be interested in getting designs if they make the dresses locally.

Good luck!

swku_2000 · Oct 5, 2005

dear shakthi,

thanks for your help n reply.

i find opportunities here wherin ladies work on an H4 visa though it is illegal. How safe is it to work like this?

I heard of a lady here who was on an H4 visa and met with an accident while driving. The police asked her where she had been and she said she had gone for work. Her and her husband ,s visa(who was on H1b) got cancelled.