sorry to take it off the subject a bit.
What flight school in america is it your planning on going to?
Theres not many yank JAA courses that ive seen and liked, only one would be a bridged program at PEA in florida while attending Naples University to do the ATPL Theory exams.
Or are you planning to do the FAA side of things then convert?
Further back to your question, i found on
www.tripleaflying.co.uk that the CPL minimal requirements "Have completed 150 hours flight time as a pilot "