Originally Posted by
no_one
Are you sure you are not getting it mixed up with the need for a student pilot certificate? Previously the Doctor was able to issue a medical certificate that was combined with a student pilot certificate for an initial issue. Now you have to get a separate student pilot certificate from the FAA via a flight instructor. As far as I am aware the FAA don't make a distinction between a renewal and an initial issue as far as AME privileges and a quick search has turned nothing up.
Never had any dealings with a Student Pilot's Certificate. My information is quite old, possibly out of date, but at one time the people who could do
initial medical exams for licence purposes, outside the country of origin of the licence, was very limited, compared to
renewals of foreign licences that many AME could do. For example, in the UK, for initial issue of licence the first medical was always done by the CAA. My AME in the UK could do the initial FAA because he was a Specialist in Aviation Medicine and cleared by the FAA to do so, he was one of only two or three so cleared, so I thought it might be wise for people to check.