My husband is from the UK and traveled back and forth while waiting for his visa to be processed. He provided documentation that he still had a residence in the UK and bank accounts. He provided documentation of where we were at in the visa process as well as his return ticket. He never had any problems and the only advice given was that he needed to be out of the US for longer than he had been in the US before a return trip. It gets expensive but it's possible. As far as working, he's mostly retired so it wasn't an issue.
