Chances of getting employment in US on H4 EAD for a Non-IT job

I recently moved to US on H1-B and i left my family back in India. I have a daughter who is 2 years and 8 months old. She is terribly missing me and I too. My husband works as a Senior Engineer in one of the leading Automobile (Car manufacturer) in India. I wish i could reconcile with my family soon in USA, but my husband’s employer is neither allowing him to take sabbatical leave nor relocation to US (yes, they have their manufacturing plant here in US). We are desperately looking for ways, so that he gets employed in US. Getting a H1-B for a non-IT job is quite difficult. So my last hope is H4 EAD. He got his H4 visa last week. And he has completed MBA and has a total experience of 9+ years in automobile industry. Will it be possible for him to find a job here in US with H4 EAD or apply for H1B? What is the probability? Please advise.

The H4 EAD is a universal document. The workforce here will appreciate him and there are no restrictions on where he can work. Your first step should be to get your husband and baby over here before your work productivity and quality of life gets affected due to this separation. I am however not sure how far your status is from a dependent getting the H4 EAD. Can your husband apply right away or is there a wait time? If there is a wait time, your husband can get a cap exempt H1B to teach at a University or another non-profit organization leveraging his MBA. Do your research, let him know the options and wait for him to decide. The decision should be his, not yours. This is because if you are from India, you will have the additional cultural challenge of being mildly accused by his family of causing their highly qualified son to be unemployed after arrival and after 2 weeks of sitting at home with the baby, your husband will start to agree with the analysis.

H4 EAD is only if your Green card process has been initiated and you have an approved I-140 in the process. Else, H4 do not get any work authorization.

As mentioned here, he can always try to teach or look for jobs in NGO/Non-profit organisations (public universities, hospitals etc.), who can hire and apply for H1 all through the year.

Thank you for your valuable suggestions.Getting H4 EAD has a long way to go. Yes, i’m from India and that’s the reason i’m not forcing him to quit and come here. Back in India, everybody will see him differently and he himself will feel bad. That is the reason i’m trying hard to get him a job in US, so that we can stay here as a family for sometime.Please let me know if he should come here and find a sponsor or it is something he could try from India.

Thanks much for the response. Please let me know if he can try from India to find a sponsor or he should come over to US, look for a sponsor and job. But i have heard that US companies will hire, if you have a valid and approved H1 petition so that you can join them immediately. That’s where the problem is. Should i move through consultancy from India? If yes, can you please suggest some good and trustworthy consultancies?

He can try from India and you can provide help too. Your address here should be given for correspondence purposes.

Private companies or consultancies… if they hire him can only apply for his H1B in April 2018 and if he makes it into the lottery and then eventually if he gets it approved without any issues, he can start working only from October 1st 2018.

Finding a job in non profit sector with the organization willing to sponsor H1 is a little difficult (not being pessimistic, but that is what I have seen so far). The best bet may be to initiate your green card process if you can, the initiation and PERM process may take like 6-8 months to be completed and your I-140 in premium process can take 15 days to process. With H4 EAD, he can work for any manufacturing company same as in his previous job here.

If your company is not willing to initiate your green card, you may have to look for sponsors and go through the difficult route as mentioned in the first para. We don’t provide any consultancy info here in this forum.