How to Grow a Career on H4 Visa
Now let’s discuss some of the career options one can adopt while staying in the U.S. on an H4 visa. As mentioned earlier, it is almost impossible to find a full-time job in the U.S. if you do not have an H1B visa. So, what can a person do who is on an H4 visa to earn for himself?
Best Ways to Work in the US
Let’s discuss some of the creative ideas:
1. Try to Get an H1 Visa
Being realistic, the first thing you should try to do while staying in the U.S. on an H4 visa is that you should try to get an H1 visa as soon as possible. The best option is to find a full-time job and try to grab an employer-sponsored H1B Visa.
You have to convince your employer that you are dedicated to working with that firm. Show him a positive attitude and persuade him to offer a job to you. Once he offers a job, then you might become eligible for the H1B visa (depending on certain other conditions).
In this way, you can start earning as well as you will get a work permit in the form of H1B visa.
How to Earn Money on H4 visa
2. Start Freelancing
Not able to do a full-time job can turn out to be a blessing in disguise for you if you choose the right direction for yourself. The best thing a person can do who is unable to find a job is to start freelancing.
Additionally, Freelancing does not require any investment, or any binding to do a 9 to 5 job. You a good laptop/P.C. and a stable internet connection to start your career as a freelancer.
If you have any skill, e.g., writing, designing, website development, M.S. Office, or any other such type, then it’s a significant edge.
Otherwise, there is no need to worry. You can take any of the online courses from hundreds of options available. Take the example of the above mentioned Edureka courses. Just enroll in these courses and grab any of your favorite skill.
Once you master the skill, you are ready to sell that skill through online platforms. This technique is what you call freelancing.
In addition to that, you can make your accounts related to your skills on any of the freelancing platforms such as Fiverr.com, Upwork.com, Freelancer.com, and many others and start selling your services to millions of buyers across the globe.
Furthermore, using your skills, you can earn a considerable amount of money for you in a limited time provided you work smartly and with full devotion.
3. Start a YouTube Channel
Starting a YouTube channel is another option which you can adapt to make money. If you are good at anything, e.g., cooking, counseling, sketching or any other such skill, then you should start a YouTube channel.
Record your videos and start uploading them on your channel. The channel can be monetized later. But once people start watching your videos and you can get a good viewership; you will start earning money through this channel.
YouTube pays a certain amount of money to you once you get suitable viewers on your videos. Later on, you may also find sponsorship for your videos. Brands usually pay a considerable amount of money to advertise their products through your YouTube channel.
So, starting a YouTube channel and uploading quality videos on your channel to gain good viewership is another excellent option to start your career once you are on H4 visa.
4. Start Your Blog
If you want to earn a considerable amount of money, then blogging is another option you can adopt. It’s never difficult to start a blog.
Explore yourself and think of the topic or niche that suits you. Think of the topics that match your interest. Explore such topics on which you would love to write. Some most demanded topics are:
- Tourism
- Fashion
- Health
- Sports
- Food
- Politics
- Career Counselling
Pick any of the topics that match your interest and develop a website by purchasing a domain name and hosting that matches the topic you have chosen.
Finally, start writing quality articles on your website on your selected topic. Share these articles with your friends and family and ask them for valuable suggestions.
Once you can grab a certain number of audiences to your website, you will be able to run adds on your site either through Google AdSense or through your local clients.
You can definitely earn a massive amount of money through these adds which you will be running on your website. So, your target should be writing quality articles and gathering the audience to your site. Resultantly you can earn money by running adds on your website.
Read on to find more career options for H4 dependent visa holders.
5. Start Teaching
Although you are not allowed to open any tuition center or a teaching institute for kids, yet you can start teaching to students in your home.
The best option I would recommend is that start teaching ‘Hindi Language’ to the children of Indian parents there.
Undoubtedly, the Indian families staying in the U.S. are eager to teach ‘Hindi’ to their children as this is their mother language. So, you can consult these families and ask them to send their children to your home where you can teach them and earn money.
Apart from the language, you can also help them in their regular studies. You may assist those children in completing their daily home assignments. In this way, you can charge an additional amount from those children.
6. Start Selling Homemade Food
If you are a housewife and you are here in the U.S. on H4 visa, then another excellent option you have is that you can sell home-made food especially to the Indian people out there.
The India people who are working or studying in the U.S. are badly in search of Indian food, but they rarely find it there. Unfortunately, they do not see anything suitable for their lunch and dinner.
Taking advantage of this thing, you can cook Indian meals twice a day. Pack the lunch in a box and deliver it to the employees working in the office or students staying in their hostels.
Within no time, you will not only earn a considerable amount of money but also gain popularity, which will result in more potential customers for you.
7. Get Connected to Uber Eats
When you are away from your home country, it’s not easy to manage the expenses. Especially in the U.S., living is very costly. So, not able to find a job for yourself for 2-4 years is not a good idea.
You should immediately start working as soon as you find any option to work. One such option is Uber Eats. You have to set up your account on Uber Eats and deliver the food to the people in their homes.
There is nothing wrong with doing this work. You have to follow the instructions of your client and pick up the food from the restaurant and deliver it to the concerned house. To travel from one place to another, you can either rent a bicycle or a bike.
This way, you can earn a suitable amount of money for yourself daily. It entirely depends on you. More the time you spend, more will you gain.
8. Join a College to Study
Instead of wasting your time at home, you should join a college and start studying. You can take any of the courses or start a professional degree. This activity will help to eliminate your career gap.
Enhance your skills by joining a professional institute, and later on, once you are eligible to do a job, you can use these skills to find a better job for yourself.
However, if you kept on wasting time in finding an H1B visa and finding a job for yourself, you would develop a significant career gap in your CV, which will turn out to be a problem for you later.
So, joining a college for a degree will help you cover your CV gap and result in a better career for you later on.
Concluding Point
Finally, there are many success stories for people who worked in the U.S. despite having an H4 visa. They chose any of the careers for themselves and not only started earning money but also groomed themselves by improving their professional skills.
Once such people were eligible to do a full-time job, they were confident while sitting in for interviews. They were able to cash the opportunity for themselves.
The reason was that they were able to justify that they did not sit idle and started earning one way or the other for themselves and their families.
Additionally, these activities also helped them to cover their CV gaps as they were able to share their success stories with their employers. They had valid proofs as they had worked online. So, they showed their accounts to the hiring managers and were able to find a white-collar job for themselves.
So again, the final advice is, make your path. Do not care about the hurdles you face. Keep on trying and find ways of supporting yourself and your family. One day you will SUCCEED.
