Originally Posted by
zondaracer
I lived in Spain for a few years. First of all, to work in Spain or France you need EU citizenship or right to work. I got right to work through marriage of a European citizen.
Secondly, you'll need the EASA license. It took me a full year and close to $17,000 to do the license conversion.
Then you gotta find a job. Way more pilots than jobs. Many airline jobs will only hire EU citizens, but there are a couple that hire those with right to work. But there are way more pilots than jobs. Also, many of the airline jobs are hiring those with type ratings and time on type already. Also, many companies in Europe are charging up to €30,000 for type ratings and P2F is becoming quite common. You are much better off staying in the US and building some time and heading to Asia or the Middle East if you really want to go abroad. Europe is an uphill slope right now.
You could also check out Copa in Panama but last I heard, they were talking about furloughs. Copa does hire foreigners though when they hire.
SAS is one of the European airlines that does not require EU citizenship. They do require the unrestricted right to live and work in the EU, which I am not sure how you can get that without being an EU citizen. From the way I read it when I first moved to Europe that even permanent residence in one country does not pass to other EU countries. Could be wrong though, it is pretty complicated. Anyway, if you do find a way to get the unrestricted right to live and work in Europe, SAS also requires Berlitz level 4 qualification in a Scandinavian language (Danish, Norwegian or Swedish).
Europe may be tough, but there are opportunities. My wife's airline cannot get enough pilots. EasyJet has opportunities in Portugal right now. Ryanair, Norwegian, WizzAir, and SAS are all actively hiring right now. Last year Small Planet Airlines was open to the idea of hiring non-EASA licensed pilots on a validation, not sure if they still are though.
But overwhelmingly so, if you want Europe you will need EU citizenship and the EASA license.