ian-mstm

I'm guessing you weren't the spouse of a USC at the time.

Ian

Brat1

I thought you were allowed to study on an H4, because I was thinking of doing an online course.... is that not the case

gemmabl

Why would the H-4 restrictions vary from person to person?

henryh

Not only may you study on H-4, but you could qualify for reduced "resident" fees, lower than the foreign student fees you'd pay on F-1.

ian-mstm

Oops... my bad! I just double checked and you're right - you can study on an H-4 visa.

Sorry!

Ian

Brat1

No apology necessary Ian, you are seldom wrong in what you post here, I just nearly had a heart attack

Brat1

Without hijacking this thread, could I ask a quick question?? Can my daughter, on an H4 visa, train/study to become a hairdresser in a salon. She has just got her license but needs training in order for her to become a confident stylist. Is this a grey area or is it black and white. If a salon allowed her to train with them for free, would that be classed as her taking a position from an American and be illegal?? Sorry if this is a daft question, I'm just trying to see if there's anything that she can do, at 18 years old, she is so depressed being stuck in here with me

Noorah101

She could study, yes. She could train if that's part of her study curriculum and she doesn't get paid for it, and it's a training thing that every student does as part of the course. She can volunteer for a salon if NO ONE EVER gets paid for that position. She cannot do a job for free, that someone else would have gotten paid for. She cannot be "paid" by any other means, either, such as gift cards, reimbursement of her own expenses, meals, etc.

Rene

fatbrit

How about volunteering to do hair at a homeless or women's shelter?

Jerseygirl

What about tips?

Noorah101

No tips! Tips are considered income.

Rene

Brat1

You know, I can just about handle being stuck in the house 24/7, and I'm seriously thinking about volunteering and doing a course of study, but I feel really sorry for my daughter, she is so bored. Now that she's qualified and licensed, she cannot progress and I feel really bad putting her in that position. I'm going to see if there's any local nursing homes that maybe the residents would like their hair done for free, just so that she doesn't lose any of the skills she's learned. This has to be the biggest downside of being here as we all love living where we are and I didn't realise or think much about the impact of her being stuck in here with her old fogey of a mother and on hindsight, we should have fought with the school to take her instead of just accepting the situation, another learning curve Sorry for going off topic

gemmabl

This varies a lot from school to school. My university wouldn't let me pay anything but the international student rate until I had my green card. My brother's college (which was less than 20 miles from mine) let him have in-state tuition on his H-4.

Bob

But the trade off would not being able to work part time on campus, that a F1 would be able to do.