And that's exactly what the people coming here need to do. Or provide proof that they have family here already. You can't get a job without a green card here, and it's not easy to get a green card. If it was, why do you think so many people would come here illegally?

And to answer your question about "why aren't there senior pilots in European countries?", well, there are, just not very many. The reason there aren't very many is because up until about 9 years ago, there wasn't a reason to go to Europe to fly unless you had another vested interest (aka getting married), because the flying jobs were either as good or better here. Not to mention the fact that a lot of those countries speak a different language than we do, and speaking as somebody who is truly bilingual, you can spot an American who thinks they know the language a mile away. The level of proficiency required to say "thank you" is not high enough of a level to survive in a country. Think of how irritating it is when the person who landscapes your lawn can't speak a word of English, well, you'd be that person over there, and tryst me, it's much more irritating not knowing the language that people around you are speaking than it is to have somebody come up to you with broken *insert language here*. Most Americans simply don't want to put the time and effort in to bring their proficiency of French/German/Spanish/Etc up to a level required to live in a country. The highschool and college language you "learned" doesn't count, because you just memorize things in order to pass a test, and any real immersion would be will beyond the normal student's skill level. That guy with an accent talking over the radio? Way better at English than you are at your other language, unless you've spent real time (years) in that other country.

But anyway, you have some people over there who have gone over recently, but they aren't senior yet. This whole idea of going over to another country is simply a matter of convenience. "There aren't jobs here now, but there are over there, and they pay well, so I'll just go over there." Here's the real question: if there were jobs in the US, would you still go to France to fly for Air France? No? Well those "foreigners" that are flying here have had that option for years, to stay here or go back and fly for their legacy carriers, and yet they've decided to stay here. They love America enough to stay here when there are jobs overseas, but you don't? Don't you think that's enough reason for the EU to deny you a work permit, that you're just there for the job, and you'll leave back to the US as soon as you can? What can you tell me about English culture? Or their government? What about France? Germany? Can you name more than 5 European politicians without using Google? Why should we reward their commitment (which could be considered greater than yours, based off the evidence) by laying them off in a bigoted witch-hunt and deporting them back to their country?