H4 Visa

Lisa Ellen Seifert

H4 visa holders are not allowed to be employed in the United States. That is the short answer to your question. In general, if a person is working in the U.S., even if on a foreign payroll, that would not be authorized. Whether a person in the united states is working in the U.S. (getting paid being a separate issue) is also not so easy to determine. The rules applicable to B-1 business visitors are probably applicable to other NIV holders like H4. Many activities are permitted, so long as there is no work or employment in the U.S. Other people may differ. Good question.

Eli Mayer Kantor

H-4 visa holders are not allowed to work in the US.

Steven Alexander Culbreath

H-4 holders cannot have employment in the United States.

Should you want to seek employment for a U.S. employer, or want to run your own business,
you must either change your status in the U.S. to a classification which allows gainful employment,
or apply for a work-authorized visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad.

You MAY (caution here!) be able to structure your services to foreign corporations in such a way,
that they are fullfilled and invoiced to a foreign company which you own or part-own.

If you form a company overseas, and the foreign clients pay that foreign company directly, for the
services that they have received, there is at least a good faith argument there, that you are not
holding "gainful employment" in the U.S.

Please consult with an attorney.