Originally Posted by
dera
No need for M1/F1 for flight training towards CP/CFI/CFII.
To work as a CFI/commercial pilot, obviously needs a different category. But for flight training towards those certs, nope.
I really can't even start to explain how wrong you are there.
So I'll skip that part.
F1 allows gaining 'practical work experience' which does NOT exclude flight instruction towards the ATP requirements.
But it does mean you need to be enrolled in relevant college courses.
Which 99% of the time means you should have gotten the F1 before enrolling and before starting your flight training and the training would have been included in the courses you enrolled for because other wise....you wouldn't have been able to legally undergo flight training.
https://www.aopa.org/advocacy/pilots/alien-flight-training-program/visa-information
You can't get an F1 after the fact and having completed your flight training for the sole purpose of gaining the 'practical work experience'.