What do spouses of H1B visa holders do?

This post from a while back had some potential options but as always vet the information with a lawyer before committing to doing anything: http://www.endlesswait.com/h1b/what-to-do-when-you-are-on-h4...

I don't have an answer to your question, I just want to point out that other countries allow spouses of foreign students and workers to work without going through H1B-style hassle. This is the case in Canada and IIRC Australia and New Zealand, probably others too.

Out of the 3 people in this situation that I know well, two stayed home with kids, and one went to school herself. Of the two that stayed home, one also did a lot of volunteer work including helping her husband in the lab during his PostDoc.

The stereotype in Seattle seems to be that the husband works at Microsoft as an H1B and meanwhile the wife gets an MBA.

Not that I suggest, but how common is it in US to work illegally in a white collar job space?