You are worried about retribution? Trust me, no airline knows or cares who you are. Most don't even know or care who their own employees are.

 

Okay no offense but you really don't know what you're talking about. There is not a world full of ATP's beating down the door to come fly in the US for 20K a year. It's AMERICA that's a source of pilot labor for the rest world not the other way around. If it were so easy to generate experienced pilots out of thin air India and China and every Middle Eastern country would already be doing it they surely wouldn't be paying Americans and Brits and Aussies huge $$$ to fly their planes. And thinking they can attract European ATP holders to move to 'Murica and fly an RJ for 20K a year is laughable.

 

I didn't live on $10/hr, congrats if you can make that work...I guess.

It's interesting because I can see the benefit of our regionals hiring foreign, all as part of their "pilot cadet program", where they train and build hours, then maybe work for one of our regionals for a few years, then go back to their home country to fly A380s or whatever. Wouldn't benefit us (well, maybe it would mean highly disciplined pilots?) so much as that foreign carrier in the end. Given that our pilot groups are so weak and would never bind together to make a change in the industry "no matter what", we may lose the chance to some extent if this idea becomes commonplace.

 

If you look at the hiring requirements for regional carriers, just about all of them state, as a prerequisite to apply:

"US Citizen or the legal right to work in the USA"

So your buddy probably just misheard something. There are definitely foreigners flying for US carriers but they are either dual citizens or already have green cards.

 

If we're to assume this rumor is true......

I'm not picking on your post exwaterski, just that yours seems to have most of the important points that others are missing.

Possible, but I'm not sure if EK still has the weight restriction in place to apply. I can't remember EXACTLY, but the 50 and 70 seat aircraft don't meet that requirement IIRC. Of course, they could do as before, and drop that requirement if it's still in place.

True. But again, assuming it's true, even in the slightest, I'm guessing it's along the lines of the following; These foreign/Euro pilots may have come to the U.S., to their U.S. ratings/certs, even to the ATP level, THEN gone back to Europe for the conversion to fly for a Euro carrier, taking the wife/spouse with them. Meanwhile, the wife/spouse is STILL a U.S. national so moving BACK to the U.S,. is an option. And AGAIN, IIRC, converting a JAA/JAR ATPL to a U.S./FAA is not nearly as difficult as the other way around.

Another possibility is one that it may be like the 90's. The Euro pilot job market sucks, there's opportunity in the U.S. Pilots from Europe are flocking to the U.S. to work because it's 1) Too expensive in Europe and 2) There's NO jobs. Only many of these pilots are now pretty experienced.

AGAIN, that's assuming this rumor is all true. And if there is a shred of credibility to it, I'm guessing there were probably some foreign pilots that STILL held U.S. citizen/residency, had experience on the current crop of regional aircraft, applied, and were hired by a regional. The Then told their friends about it, so maybe 1 or 2 more came over. And boom, a rumor is born........

 

After going through the process of a greencard and the time it takes, i highly doubt the "shortage" has got to that point. The USCIS only has a set number of H1B visas they can give out each year and the employing company has to prove why they cant find an american to do the job. Hopefully this isn't someones misenterpretation of a foreigner already with a greencard or work visa getting a job and then someone with an axe to grind gets upset because it is seen as "taking jobs away from americans". There are plenty of american expat flying in my home country and other airlines around the world and it isn't looked at as such (of course there are some exceptions).

 

I can't dispute any of that but like you said we're probably talking about a small handful not near the numbers they need. And if I were a US regional I don't know if I'd want a significant number of my pilots being UK/Euro foreign nationals I suspect they would be much harder to enslave than the homegrown pilots. If they are just here to get experience and have few ties to the US I imagine a typical European would rather resign and go somewhere else than say move to an outstation base. But this is all hypothetical I just don't see droves of Europeans wanting to come fly in the US it's a very different world from the 1990's. It's an interesting discussion but I just don't see it happening.

 

I am not talking today or perhaps five years.

 

Yeah I didn't mean to sound like a jerk I just think it's a common misconception that there are all these pilots out there. For decades we've been conditioned to believe that there is always someone right around the corner willing to take your job but for once it's not true. If I were one of these mega regional CEO's I would pretty nervous right now. There are only so many lower time ATP's out there and they will very quickly start to run out. Everyone is assuming they will get relief from the government but short of repealing the law and going back to 250 hour FO's I don't see where they're going to get it. If they raise the pay enough that they can compete with corporate and 135 operators for talent it might do the trick. I don't think they'll ever pay enough to lure expats back home but I guess it depends on how desperate they get.

 

An H1B visa doesn't cut it. You can only receive training in an aircraft of +12,500lbs in the US as long as you're a US citizen or a green card holder, period.

Forget about H1B or any other "sponsor visa", it does not apply to airline training, this is one if the many policies put in place after 9/11.

Unless you show up with a green card, you can't even attend new hire training on a 121 carrier.

Can an airline sponsor an applicant for a GREEN CARD? Technically Yes, but it's really complicated due to many factors, expensive and many months of processing, finger printing, medical examinations, rounds of vaccines, etc, AND it can still be denied by the government, it's not an automatic deal.

Now, if the government opens up a window for "guest workers" then that's a different story. But I doubt it will happen anytime soon...