Citizenship for working in USA??

[SparksFlyHigh]

Perhaps a slightly off topic question but is there anyway to gain American citizenship through working as a flight instructor at a FTO in the states?

I can only imagine they would require a certain length of service + a reference from the school that they want/need you.

Any ideas guys?

[Mordacai]

Citizenship is very unlikely initially, but I do hear that it may be possible for JAA flight instructors to apply for a 'green card' if you can prove that there is a genuine need. However I also hear that the application process can take upto 18 months with no guarantees of acceptance.

Have you considered the J1/HIB/H3 visa route?

There is lots of good stuff on the internet if you do a google search.

Good luck!

[Tim_CPL]

Perhaps you have some confusion between permanent residence (AKA Green Card, GC) and Citizenship? The usual train of events is as follows...

You need a visa to legally work in the US. This visa can take many, many forms. Some are work related, some are family related, some are investment related, some are marriage related etc.(look up for yourself). Almost all are difficult, costly, time consuming to get and have a queue of people and most employment related ones require a sponsor, which is difficult to find with so many US citizens in the running.
Once you have secured a visa (which must be a dual intent visa, i.e. permit immigration or adjustment of status), you will need your employer to sponsor you for the GC. Getting the GC can take from 6 months to 10 years, depending on circumstances.
Once you have held the GC for 3 years (for marriage) or 5 years (for employment) you should be eligible for citizenship. Again there are lots of conditions to being eligible such as being resident during that time, filing taxes, being a good boy and following the rules....

- Tim

[piloteea]

noone gets "issued" a greencard because of work, the only route to that is an employment based green card and believe me, no flight instuctors will ever get issued that.

You need a work permit (which you cannot get other than working on a J2 or a H3).

Look at google, there is loads of information about working in the US

[BigGrecian]

no flight instuctors will ever get issued that.

You are very ill informed.

Trouble is you have to basically give 5 years to the company, and that's after you've qualified and gained some experience.....

Not many people stay in instructing for that length of time ;)

[piloteea]

no flight instructors will be allowed to work in the US in other categories than J2/H3 (max 2 years). yes, you COULD apply for an H1B, but to get an H1B you need employment authorisation which involves that the school have to PROVE that they CANNOT find anyone in the US for the SAME position, it involves spending money on advertising for at least 3 months etc etc. There have never been as many flight instructors as now, I bet the US immigration knows this as well.

I have lived in the us for a while and I know the rules

[MartinCh]

Sparks, try medicine or IT, that'll be fairly 'straightforward' for the purpose of US GC and ultimately citizenship. Why bother? Unless you get married to US citizen or win green card, it's pretty much waste of time.

I've read some of your posts, why would you want to stay in the US?
You're gonna be fine with M1 and J1 visas for flight training. Visa waiver or B2 for flying holidays. What more do you want??

Canada considers pilots, engineers, instructors and navigators as skilled migration qualifications/experience. That's much easier.
Just get trained, do your Canadian CPL while in the US (visit to other side of border to sit exams) or simply do conversion (VERY easy from US FAA, including type ratings - heli wise), sort the papers, get there on Working holiday visa (1 year open work permit as per Canadian visa/permit naming), do some networking, maybe bit instructing, if prepared well in advance and rotary wise with some good hours from J1 in the US, not so impossible to get heli job for a season - I know, you're FW minded. Just to let you know.

Then, you'd have company that'll give you job offer useful for residence permit/visa, stop by in Buffalo or elsewhere, go back to Canada (speeding up paperwork, otherwise apply few years in advance), pass 67 pass mark with skills, experience, job offer etc. That's it.

Much much easier than playing about trying to get GC through employment in the US.

As for NZ and OZ, they don't need another pilots, so unless you have some skills they want and do the legwork for residence, forget it via piloting..
Anyway, who'd want to work there for that money and with so much competition, right? :-D (yeah, for lifestyle, maybe)

Got it? :ok:

[BigGrecian]

Really? How do the people I work with have H1Bs then?

And Flight Instructors are "apparantely" in the top 10 most required trades in the US right now....especially if you have Full JAA Licences and FIs and the relevant two years of experience on the job, then you should be set...assuming you want to sign your life away for 5 years at low pay to the same employer (Not recommended.)

[MartinCh]

Big,
there's always that exemption of 'special skill' I discussed with some guys on another thread, ie pilot getting H1 visa because of air mech skills etc. Not ordinary pilot.
Presume the same can go for need for JAA instructors in the US as most FIs are FAA CFI, not JAA with relevant experience (2 years? so more than full J1 even with PPL on M1 beforehand). Obviously does go.

Just like visa sponsorship for JAA CFI (chief) for HeliWest in OZ advertised here. I'm pretty sure casual instructors OZ wannabe immigrants (without any other desired skilled experience, not doing student visa or temporary WHV) don't stand a chance.

Career instructors from Europe don't really have reason to sell themselves for H1 visa with enough jobs back home. Airline wannabes ditto. Unless being in the US is THE most important thing for them.

So my words don't exactly contradict yours, BigG. Sparks is airline wannabe (from his posts I've read) so... As for H1 visas from some US airline for fresh CPL from Europe, hmm.
Just slightly improbable, to put it mildly :ugh:

This is just Sparks' pretty long shot and I seriously doubt he'd qualify and then go for it. I just gave him viable alternative if he fancies North America.
Canada has much friendlier healthcare as well.

[SparksFlyHigh]

Martin,

Thanks for your reply.

I was actually just asking my father Mr. B Sparks if he was likely to know you or whether its just complete coincidence. (he has a friend called Martin) You seem to know alot about me/be able to answer all my questions :)

I was actually on the Heli route before and have already taken the canadian citizenship test thingy and was hitting about 50 points (without job offer and being under 21).

Im onto fixed wing now, looking to go and finish my ppl in the states so that more than 1/10 of my booked lessons actually happen. Will be applying for uni next year along with fATPL, donation box level permitting.

Would love to get a place out in Florida and live my life there but wouldnt say no to Canada :ok: Thanks for all the info though, been a great help.

Rik

[piloteea]

because they're it professionals from india and not flight instructors? No instructors gets job's in the US unless....

J/H visa
greencard
US citizenship

simple as that.

[MartinCh]

Sparks,

I've read some of your 'start-up' threads and questions.

'you were on heli route', hmm. Maybe I've read some of your posts in rotorheads section which I frequent most. From what I remember, you're into airline jobs at the distand end (of painful pleasure of flight training).

Don't use the word citizenship for permanent residence.
As for skilled migration point system for Canada, it's dead easy. Don't count in yourself as under-proper-adult-aged and you'd see more points coming in.
Also, 10 points for job offer. As I said, if you're trained, spend one year or bit less on Open Work Permit (reciprocal thing for Working Holiday makers), get to know folks, job offer wouldn't be a problem. Then, with CPL papers and at least a year instructing, you'd be just fine. That's my opinion. But it's ages from now, as we know.

US lawful permanent residence (=Green Card), H visa and citizenship aren't the same as mentioned above.

Do IT degree, get some experience and you'd have job that'll make things easier in the US and back-up career should you lose medical. I know I'm annoying, but from my point of view and experience, it's good.

Or, hm. forgot the last thing.
Enjoy flying. One week to go till my flights