May a CFII who has a Commercial Multi-Engine rating on his/her Commercial Certificate give and log instrument instruction in a Multi-engine airplane in which both the flying pilot and instructor are appropriately rated, even though the CFII is not a MEI?

I'm gonna go with no. I know you can give instrument instruction with just your initial (only 15 hours must be with a CFII). But I have friends who had MEI before the initial and could not instruct in a single-engine aircraft.

I'm sure somebody will be less-lazy and find a reg.

61.195
(b) Aircraft ratings. A flight instructor may not conduct flight training in any aircraft for which the flight instructor does not hold:

(1) A pilot certificate and flight instructor certificate with the applicable category and class rating

I was going to say that you could. Your CFII says instrument airplane, it doesn't specify single or multi, so you should be able to instruct in both, but I guess 61.195 proves me wrong.

So here is my question, I have heard of people getting their CFII as their initial instructor rating, so what can you do with that? It just says instrument airplane. I know people have done this, so you have to be able to do something with it.

How can you instruct on the instrument portion of handling a multi-engine plane while operating under IFR? If I recall the instrument rating has a single and multi engine options. If so then my guess is that the training needs to come from an MEI. Besides all that how would you the instructor log the time? As instruction given? Most likely the only way to legally log the time would be as a safety pilot. Perhaps you could provide instruction in a multi-engine however the check ride should be in a single with a limitation for IFR in a single engine planes only.

SkyHigh

The instrument rating and the CFII rating specify "Instrument Airplane" only. They do not specify number of engines (or wheels vs. floats for that matter).

Therefore a CFII who is NOT an MEI can give instrument instruction to a private pilot who has a ME rating. The CFII needs a ME rating and 15 hours (or maybe it's 5?) in that exact make and model before doing this.

In order to teach the INITIAL multi-engine rating (for either student, private, or commercial add-on) you need an MEI.

No, you were correct on both counts.

Instrument ratings (and the CFII) have a category only, not a class. So you just have to avoid blimps and helicopters.

You are correct. A lot of people are thinking of it as having a CFII and CFI. You dont have to have a CFI to have a CFII. So think of it like that. Using some poeple argument then, if a CFII only had a CFII he wouldnt be able to teach in any airplane which, of course, is not true. Anyone with a CFII-Airplane rating can teach in any airplane they are rated to fly in. With a Com-SEL they can teach in a SEL with a COM-MEL they can teach in a multi, as long as what they are teaching is instrument.

So is it 15 hours or 5 hours?