Originally Posted by
bafanguy
Michael,
I can't answer all your questions. But I can say that US airlines certainly hire green card holders. You'd need an FAA ATPL in every case at an FAR Part 121 carrier. Some regionals have provided that for foreign nationals in the past but I don't know if they''re doing that now (I suspect not). Otherwise you'd have to get one on your own...a bit expensive. And you'd need the 1500 hours total time except for those universities offering reduced hour requirements for their graduates to get a restricted-ATPL. And the r-ATPL raises the question of whether airlines hire those with only a r-ATPL. Maybe some do but I don't know for sure.
The tricky part is that these parameters/requirements can change in short order so it's hard to give a solid answer that'll stand the test of time. Wish I knew more.
Thanks for your help. So in other words you say I could. But do you think I need to do a 4 year degree or should I just change EASA to FAA and start at a regional? If you can't answer that it is fine. I suspect that it would be "recommended" though not essential, right now at least. Would be a pretty big waste of money to do the 110000 Euro flight school and then a university degree over the pond... And this gets me back to the idea to just go to the US from the beginning...