Ref: KARNAK 66 and Sailvi767 - usual story, ask two people and get five answers ! Best of luck.
My only experience, and not relevant now of course, was - married to an American, and holding two foreign ATPL's and I.R's ( one UK ) with over 20,000 hours airline experience and wanting to fly after retirement, was to be only granted a CPL stamped " Not for hire or reward " . That did of course allow me to fly recreationally, anything else would have taken a lot of time, and money. I would take eckhard's advice, with the addendum - marry a rich American.
Best of luck, best job in the World.