Originally Posted by
MarkerInbound
So in FAA speak you hold a commercial license and have passed your ATP exams. Congratulations, the FAA will issue you a private certificate limited to VFR. To get anything higher you would have to do the same thing a native born American would have to do, pass writtens and pass checkrides. To get an ATP level job in the US you will need 1500 hours.
With the exception that flight time abroad will count to satisfy FAA minimums. In other words: to convert a foreign-based PPL to a "standalone" FAA PPL, he would only need to take the written and pass the checkride. Subsequently he can use his foreign IFR time to pass the IFR / CPL written and take those checkrides as well.
Originally Posted by
MarkerInbound
None of that will get you a job without a US passport or a "green card."
Or a visa, which depending on the circumstances can be easy to get. Realistically, there are only two visa which are applicable in this case: H1-B or L-1. The L-1 requires a pilot to be an employee of the company already, few people will meet that requirement. H-1Bs are limited, and filing season is over. The first available H1-B will have a start date of October 2020.
That said, the wait time for a green card is actually really low, depending on country of origin. It can therefore be quicker to just apply for a green card: that whole process can be done in less than a year.
Can it be done: yes. Will any US airline with a year while a prospect hire gets his visa and licenses in order? Probably not. But then again, who would have thought 20 years ago that pilots would pay to fly?