Originally Posted by
skull
Double Dog Dare,
There is "some sort of reciprocity" as far as getting EU licenses for example. Among other things, it takes hard work. None of the foreign guys you might come through here have had practically no cost license conversion, and have stepped right into an aviation job. Most of them if not all have brought something to the US and have worked extremely hard to earn the privilege of leaving their "American dream" today. And no we did not have a job waiting for us in the US, we just worked hard to get some education which in turn made us more competitive than others and we were hired by US employers. We then became permanent residents and later US citizens. Then, and only then, were we able to switch to a career in aviation. Unfortunately, no one can expect to fulfill his dream in a foreign country right away. However, all of us have something in common, we knew that we had to earn it and there is plethora of American guys all over the world who have exactly done that. So, you too can do it over there if you have the patience and dedication, but like the rest of us you will have to bring something to the table as we all did here. If you decide not to do it, then you will have to accept the fact that competing for jobs here is the only way to go, and trust me employers do not favor foreign pilots against the American ones during interviews.
By the way, no country except you to start from square one as far as licenses conversion but none of them will give you a blank check and tell you Mr. pilot welcome aboard we were waiting for you, here is your new license, here's your right to live and work here and here's the job that was waiting for you. Not even the US!
Thanks for the comments... I don't expect any handouts, and willing to work hard to do this and I checked into converting it into Canada and was told that I had to take the private, and their versions of commercial, instrument, multi-engine, including all written, oral and flight tests, training to meet the test mins, which would be big bucks (approaching $50K) and take about a year. Europe was the same or even more difficult. Then there's the citizenship issue.
I mean if foreign pilots can take one written and/or a flight test and be done, why the heck can't we?