Originally Posted by
LITTLEa905
I'm a Canadian married to an American Citizen and I work at SkyWest. To be quite honest with you, it will be very difficult for you to find a regional carrier to sponsor you for a work visa (such as an H1B) or a green card. A green card through employment make take years to get, even if you can find some company to sponsor you. It costs a lot of money, and lawyers (highly recommended when going through employment) cost even more. The immigration system here is a nightmare to say the least. You'd be better off with AC Jazz if you don't have an easy pass to a green card. Like I said, I am married to an American citizen, went to school here, flight instructed here, English is my FIRST language and still didn't have an easy time getting a green card. Not trying to be negative, but unfortunately it's not just as easy at applying. Let me know if you have any other questions.
You said that you are not complaining, but you stated that the immigration here is a nightmare. Well, do you know of any western, modern, industrialized nations where the immigration process is easy? Where you can just show up and they dole out right to abode and right to work without having to go through a "nightmare" process? I know, there are SOME exceptions being made in certain parts of the world for certain types of labor. And there are pilots that get it, but even then, they have to be pretty qualified and filling a need that can't be filled with nationals. But it's not the norm. Do you think it would be easy for an American to go to any other country un sponsored and get a flying job? Much less one without much experience?
On another note, maybe it's aviation urban legend, don't know.
But wasn't there a case post 9/11 where a regional was sponsoring some people, and upon further investigation it was discovered that their paperwork was fraudulent? And that pretty much put the nix on airlines sponsoring foreign pilots. Too much liability, regardless of what country they came from.