Quick Question regarding work hours outside H1B

[ark1211]

Hello,
I just had a quick question. I am on my H1B visa (40hours/week).

Can I do any work outside those hours legally?
1. If yes, Can I charge for that work?
2. If No, Can I just do that additional work without charging any money? (kind of voluntary work).

Another question-

Can I take work from India and do it legally if I am on my H1B and working in US for 40 hours/week?
If Yes, Can I charge for it? If no, Can I do it as voluntary.

OR is it like, I just cannot do any kind of work outside 40 hours.
Hope my questions make sense. Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks.
Ak.

[shervin143]

When you are in H1B status, you are authorized to work only for the employer who filed your H1B petition and got it approved. If you want to work for multiple employers, then the other employer should also file an H1B as a concurrent H1B and get it approved.

If you want to perform voluntary work, then it should be for a non-profit organization.

[txh1b]

You cannot do any work outside the employer that sponsored the H1b. Working OT for the same employer is fine.

[ark1211]

Thanks shervin143, Thanks txh1b

Wow ! I wasn't knowing that. So you mean to say that if I am getting any work from India and its a profit organization , The safer approach is to say No to them. right?
Also, Does helping someone? a friend/relative? in their ventures? (e.g to be precise, if they are opening a company and need my help in some technical issues, say design their website) and if I want my name to appear on their website, I CANNOT do that?
Please let me know.
Thank you very much.. This really helps.

[ark1211]

Any answers?

[abhayg4]

Hi OP,

I cannot give you a perfect legal advise as for these matters its better to consult an specialist/immigration attorney.

Legally-its not allowed to work other than your employer (who is holding your H1)
But what to exclude , what to include in this statement depends CASE to CASE basis..
like how you are associated with the service , how long you are associated with the service , r u getting any monetry gains/income out of it etc etc....

Like If I say I am giving a telephone support or creating some webpages for my friend/relative in India for a day or two to design his company website and he will put my name on it as a courtsey.
I am doing anything illegal ????as per my opinion NO BUT if by any chance you get audited then its upto you how you proof urself....
because it depends on lot of factors like I mentioned above and immigration attorney knows better.

I can give you one example which happened with me only.
One of my relative is abook publisher in India , he asked me for some reference material about US like its history , origin ,culture etc.I sent him all the documents . He published it as a book and he put my name on it that I helped him.
On a very rigid basis - you can say that i worked for him and its illegal but on the other hand as per me - I just helped him and that was only my intention

Thanks and regards,
Abhay

[ark1211]

@Abhay : Thanks for your valuable suggestions.
This really really helps !
Thank you again.