Making Money on H4 Visa

For those of you who don’t know or are new to the US or are thinking of coming to the US, let us say this at the beginning of this blog post itself. You cannot work on an H4 visa without a work permit. We’ve done plenty of videos on this, we answer almost 100s of DMs almost every week on our Instagram channel. The sad fact is, you cannot work on an H4 visa. And no, even freelancing is not allowed. Nor is working for a company in India, where you get paid in INR is allowed.

So, you might be thinking, if we can’t work on an H4 visa, then how can we make money?

Well, there are a few ways, and we’ll discuss that with you here. 

We just want to tell you guys that the methods mentioned in this blog post aren’t something that will help you make a 6-figure income in the US. On the contrary, some of these may not even generate any income upfront. But it makes sense to be at least aware of what are some of the legal ways possible to make some money on the side without breaking any rules associated with your visa. So here they are

1. Participate in Surveys

Many companies want to understand different audience segments and for that, they want as many people as possible to fill out some surveys. They usually pay in the form of a gift card and sometimes cash. However, the pay isn’t great. You’ll probably have to fill in 1000s of surveys to make something substantial, as you’ll end up earning something less than one dollar per survey. Regardless, these surveys aren’t time-consuming, and you can try them out. Please make sure that you use trusted websites to participate in these surveys. 

Never fill in a survey that asks you to enter your bank account details to participate. That’s a big Red flag. 

Some popular and trusted sites are:

• SwagBucks

• InboxDollars

• MyPoints

• SurveyJunkie

2. Investing in stocks

So, we get a lot of messages asking if H4 visa holders can invest in stocks. The answer is yes. But can you day trade? No. So here’s the entire picture. 

As an H4 visa holder, you can trade no more than four stocks per week so that it won't affect your visa status. You can invest a small amount of money and make money passively from it, either through dividends or by later selling them off. 

3. Start your blog, YouTube channel
   

This is a very gray area. It all eventually boils down to intent. Don’t start a YouTube channel with the intent to start making money. Do it because you want to share something with the world. That’s it. Also, if we’re being honest, it takes a very long time to make any money off YouTube. You need 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time. However, working on your own YouTube channel or a blog will not only give you a lot of creative satisfaction, it will also teach you a lot of new skills. And who knows, by the time your YouTube can be monetized, you may be eligible to even apply for a work permit

4. Get someone to sponsor your own H1B
   

Ok, this is a long shot, and we understand that. But it is a very legit option. Network effectively with people from your industry and try to find a company that is willing to sponsor your visa. 

During the H1B filing time, i.e, around February, March, you will find a lot of posts on Facebook from different consulting companies saying that they sponsor visas. Please be careful when working with them. A lot of them will ask you to pay money. My advice would be to avoid working with them and try to find some companies yourself. 

You can also do some research and try to get yourself an H1b cap exemption. 

There’s a website called MyVisajobs where you can filter out institutes that sponsor H1B Cap exempt visas. If you don’t know what H1B Cap Exempt is, then we'll link to a detailed video about it here. 

5. Write a book and collect royalties
   

This is just an option that we came across during our research. The place where we read this mentioned the caveat that your publisher needs to be in some other country and collect royalties as passive income. But yes, it seemed like an option. However, not everyone can write a book, and even if you write a book, finding a publisher is a different game altogether. 

That’s it. There are 2 other options, but they’re not really options as such. 

You can move to an F1 visa and then be eligible for CPT and OPT, and then your H1B, but that requires considerable investment, too. So, not the best option if you’re trying to make some money on the side while you wait for your work permit. 

One more thing, like stocks, you can invest in real estate too. But you can’t flip houses as such. Make passive income through rent. But if you’re buying, a lot of the rent will as it is go towards your mortgage. But yeah, that’s an option too. 

Some platforms allow you to invest in startups (a small amount), but it’s not something we would advise. However, just wanted to share that option. 

We hope this blog post was helpful. We know that these options will not help you make a ton of money. But it sure will help you understand a few options for yourself.