Ask HN: Can't go to college and I have to move to a new country
What should I do to get a job or make myself more hireable?
Backstory:
I have just graduated with a diploma in culinary arts in Singapore, the plan was that I was to continue my education in the US finishing it off with a bachelors in nutrition. This was at my parents direction; I wanted to do CS instead. Unfortunately, my father has been laid off and has been out of work for 6 months, wiping out most of the family savings. Since my dad has been out of the US for more than 2 years, he is unable to co-sign a loan for me.
Usually, this would not be much of a problem. The normal course of action would be to get a kitchen job in SG. However, with the foreign worker quotas here, that is no longer a viable option thus forcing me to move back to Indonesia.
During my time in the culinary academy + my culinary internships, I had no time to prepare side projects as a fallback plan as I had been working 12+ hours, 6 days a week.
All of my relevant projects has been in high school, where I implemented a cluster computing project and various small applications for my CS and IT courses in order to pass my IB diploma.
During that time i've built my competence in Python, Javascript, and Django, even though my IB coursework was done in Java.
I am faced with a large challenge of getting employed in any job since I do not speak the language at all, having lived in Singapore for most of my life (i'm 21, i've been here since I was 6).
I think that my best course of action is to work freelance for now.
To try and improve my chances of getting a job, I have applied for a US greencard, and I plan to move there when it is approved (my father is a US citizen).
Is there anything else I should be doing to improve my chances of getting hired?