Many women (mostly women and a few men too) come on H4 to
America. They all share a common dream that some day they would get their H1
done and would get a job in America. It used to happen few years back when the
market was good but nowadays its tough, very tough.
Many of these women are highly educated e.g like MBA
passouts, doctors , lawyers . They can get handsome salaries back home with
high payings jobs, an identity. Some are happy taking care of their families
here in US but some might not be as their expectations of getting a job here
are shattered.
Recently I talked to one friend of mine. He came to US 4
years back, his wife is an MBA. She is a housewife now, she was earning a
handsome salary in Bangalore when they decided to shift back to US. These are
some of her views
Q1. Do you look back and see that you have missed out on
some opportunities in your career ?
Ans. Well I do
feel at times that I missed on some opportunities. After my kid goes to school
I see plenty of time left for me to use. Its kind of depressing to see that my
friends who worked along with me have risen in terms of position and salary in
the companies and have also come on trips to US.But then I look at my kids and
see that I have ample time for them now and I can use my educational background
to teach them. I am using my time here to raise my kids in the best way I can.
Q2. Do you see fast difference in the lifestyle that you
could have had had your been working in the India or here in US.
Ans . Well I feel there is a difference. My husband works
for a multinational and still comes home on time and has time for kids. I have
time to prepare good food for them, take them out in the park or to my friends
house. This was something I feel would have been difficult to do in India,
pertaining to the long working hours that we used to have. In terms of our
profession I do feel that i might have been more satisfied had I been in India.
But if you see the daycares in Bangalore (atleast when I was there) were not
that good and until and unless you stay with your parents (who can take care of
your kids), sending your kids to those days cares would have been difficult for
me.
Q3. Did you try for a Job in US ?
Ans. Yes I did try.In fact before boarding to US I never
thought once that I wouldnot get a job here, considering that I am BCom Honours
and a full time MBA in Marketing. But getting an H1 in fields other then
Software is next to impossible here. Very few companies do the H1 and nowadays
its becoming more and more difficult.
Q4. After getting your green card would you go back to work
again.
Ans. Sure I would. Working would not only boost the income
level of my family but it would raise my confidence level as well. After
studying so much I want to build a career for myself.
I do feel that its is quite difficult for people who come on
H4 with aspirations of a Job in US. I think if the aspirations are set
initially back home it might not trouble a lot in the future. However in many
countries other then US the people on dependant visa can pursue a job for e.g
Singapore. Even in US if you primary member is on L1 visa then the dependent
can work on a Job.
So if are you are on H4 what can you do.
Well these are things that come to my mind
1.
Accept it, that it would be difficult to get a Job
(or getting the job of your choice rather) but its not impossible.
You are on H4. What all can you do ?
·
Find a Job – How do you do this ?
Know that to work you need H1 visa – right … Now how do you get H1 visa.
a)
First make up your mind you want job in which
field
b)
You must know that H1 is granted in only Special
categories. For e.g if you have done a course on Fashion Designing I think its
very difficult to get H1 visa (please correct me if I am wrong on this one)
c)
Getting H1 on Software side might be relatively
easy (though in these times it might not be that easy anymore). How do you
approach for this.
-
Open Sulekha.com
-
Find Jobs/ Trainings in Sulekha. Search for
Companies providing H1. Call them up. Talk to them. Check with your friends
about how the companies are.
-
Find on Craiglist – Search for companies
sponsoring H1 visa.
-
Search on LinkedIn – Search for Companies
sponsoring H1 visa.
-
Go in Niche fields as competition would be less–
e.g QA testing (what is niche field here – e.g QA testing of BPM Workflow
Applications or Performance Testing of RIA Applications or Teradata or RIA or
Ruby On Rails etc etc)
-
You can also search for an Indian company
sponsoring h1 visa in US.
All the steps mentioned above might or might not yield any results but
you would surely learn something out of it and please don’t give up.
d)
Go pro bono – yes it might sound ridiculous to
some but believe me it might work. There are plenty of startups launching in
California each day. They all need people, do pro bono work for them or work
for free, just to get experience and in due course of time they might sponsor
your h1 if they like your work ( Please note I have never tried this and if
this advice looks useless to your – please avoid it as it might or might never
yield any result)
2.
If you have a skill why not teach other people
yourself – either throught eBooks (you can also earn money through it), or
taking classes etc. I know a woman in my apartment who knows kathak very well.
She has started taking classes for kids here and believe me around 5 to 10 kids
go to her class now. It’s a good way to spend time and to use your skill.
3.
If you are software developer why not start
something of your own , you can also put this in your resume. If you cannot
launch a company on H4 in US, launch a company in India (who is stopping you to
do that) and start preparing software products for that company (with iphone
Apps /Android Apps / iPad Apps going around) there is a lot you can do. I know
of one lady who is into fashion designing she has launched business in India
with 3 of her friends. She is learning and designing apparels here sitting at
home and is doing a good business with her friends back home.
4.
Write a Blog – you can start an individual blog
or 3-4 friends can join together and write a blog. Look at this website here,
two of these friends joined together to start a website and they are doing damn
good now . The website is
http://showmethecurry.com
5.
Utilize the time that you get for your family –
When I was working in Bangalore I seldom got time for my family except on
weekends. My wife and I both were working . I used to come back at 10 or
sometime event 1 am in the Night and my wife use to work in afternoon shift (11
am – 8 pm). We seldom got time to talk to each other (except on the phone).
Weekends were mostly cooking at home or going to Forum Mall for movies and
nothing great. We seldom travelled or could find time for holiday (when I got
the time for holidays she was busy and vice versa). Here in US that’s not the
case , after work is over, its over and you come back home and you can spend
quality time with your family. Plan vacations, plan weekend get together with
your friends, plan play dates for your kids. There are a lot you can do here.
6.
Learn new skils –
a)
Driving – Driving in US is fun. As soon as any
person comes to US this is the first thing they should do. They should learn to
drive (even if they are already driving back home, still they need to learn
here due to right hand side driving and also to clear the driving tests). After
you learn driving you can visit your friends house, do the groceries and plenty
of other things.
b)
My wife did a course in Michaels for decorating
cakes – she loved the course and me and my daughter were very happy during that
time as every day we used to get new cakes.
7.
Sell your crafts – if you do craft work you can
sell your hand made products (anything can even be wool sweaters) on etsy.com
and other similar sites.
8.
Study – Yes you can study if you want to – MS /
MBA / CPA / CFA . CPA and CFA are great courses too, they take much lesser time
and money ( I think CPA you can do in less than 6000 $ + the money needed for
buying books , course material etc) and they have great value not only in US
but in other countries (e.g in INDIA) as well. Also there are companies (though
few) that can do your H1 visa if you are CPA/CFA.
9.
Lastly don’t give up. Keep trying and keep
enjoying . US is a great country to be in . With plenty of places to go on
vacations to, nice eating joints. I keep telling my wife that people who come
here just after marriage can have an extended honey moon here with so many
places to see.
Here are some resources that you might find useful.
http://blog.dslamba.net/2010/10/27/are-you-on-the-h4-visa-stop-whining/
