Its amazing how a little bit of knowledge is dangerous. Let’s look at the initial post first:
US Citizens – have either been born here or naturalized. Either way if you go back a few generations or in a lot of cases, just one generation you will find a parent who emigrated from another country. Or in the later case, they have done what the US government has asked them to do to obtain citizenship.
Stealing jobs from brothers and sisters? As already stated, should we all close the boarders to prevent flow out as well as flow in? How dare Emirates come here recruiting!
Legal Permanent Residents – Are just that. Again the government has stated how to go about the process, and those that have followed it surely can reap the rewards. Now if you don’t like that we need to start a debate as to how many are removed along with their offspring which means most of the US apart from Native Americans.
Oh, and should the Statue of Liberty be returned along with the Colossus “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”
Now onto working in Europe
The countries of the EU have many work visas similar to the USA which have two subtle differences. Firstly there are no caps in most cases, and secondly if you have a job offer, the company who offers you the job can sponsor you for the visa. Some airlines and other companies have different requirements, but European anti discrimination laws keep that fairly well checked.
As for getting the JAA license, here we go again.
If you want to fly in the USA as the holder of an ATP, regardless of your qualifications, you will need to take the same exam a low hour pilot has to take and take a flight test for that license. If you want to work in Europe the requirement for a high time pilot is the same as a low time pilot. You can’t blame the system. It is there to prevent people who learn 900 questions without having a clue as to why it is the right answer from getting a position. If you are that good a pilot and that knowledgeable, you should have no problems passing the exams, and have no issues with taking them so that you can go and earn $50,000 per year as a first year FO on a Q-400 or even $100,000 as a fist year 737 FO. There was a Massive difference between the requirements for the Aer Lingus job openings between FAA and JAA rated pilots. I wonder why??
But I will concede that the mentality is that if you have paid your dues in the USA, then it should be easy for you to get one of those jobs in Europe or Asia. Until we get past that stupid saying, things will never change.