Originally Posted by
Kenny
The problem with this socks, as it stands at the moment is that you currently, have to have the unrestricted right to live and work in the US, to apply to United. So nothing less than a green card and an EB3 won’t cut it. That’s from the head of pilot recruitment as I asked her, last week.
I don't disagree, except that an EB3 is a green card... and that's the whole point. Once you've got it, I think it's 6 months they're tied to their sponsor, then they're a free agent the same as every other GC holder. Commutair is sponsoring greencards, and once the guys have got them they get to flow. In return, United Express keeps a captain for 18 months longer than they otherwise would, instead of them going to Atlas/Frontier etc.
The big problem Alpa currently has though isn't entirely E3's going to EB3, because that's a relatively small number. It's the EB2NIW visa, which can be self sponsored without a US company involved, and can be done by any nationality. That's where the floodgates are most likely to open if that proves to be a viable pathway (to my knowledge as yet untested).