Originally Posted by
Agile
A big part of the EASA CPL/ATPL is the 14 theory exams, if you have a job now, and you have time (being 26) I would do those modular, from home, with a bit of traveling to the test centers as needed.
took me a year to get those while managing other duties (work/family) at next to no cost relatively speaking.
The practical training can be done in 2 months of flying (was expensive for 2 reasons: the flight time and the lodging)
but by that time you have your certificate of passing the EASA theory exams so the risks of not finishing in time, having discontinued training and spending stupid money is lower.
As always get the EASA medical first (it is more rigorous than the FAA one) to reduce another risk factor of your endeavor. FAA PPL was only usefull as it allowed me to enter the EASA training with a few hundred hours of experience (that costed less than EASA flight time), that makes the process easier assuming you did not pickup any bad habits in the FAA world.
F1 visa, only through certain acredited flight schools, have been harder to come by, a Trump thing that will not go away.
Interesting, so you just studied for your exams by finding resources online? Ie. you effectively self-taught?