Curry, it has nothing to do with discrimination, it is all about how “readily”,to use ImmD terminology, the visa holder can be replaced by a local. Cabin crew can easily be replaced so that’s simple.
They've obviously used the arguement about type rating and training qualifications to give longer for those who have type ratings not held by many of the currently unemployed pilots. You’ll note that 330 and 320 rated pilots have only been given a stay of execution of six months as ImmD would appear to expect that unemployed locals from KA and HKA are employed over the next six months to fill those slots.