PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - FAA for UK/EU citizen? Barmy or not?
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Old 26th February 2025 | 11:51
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rudestuff
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Dec 2005
: ATPL
Posts: 4,970
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From: Hong Kong
Whoops. What have I started?

With low hours you are limited to working in the state of licence issue. A low time EASA pilot is really only going to find employment in Europe and a low time FAA like is really only going to find work in the US. There are of course a few exceptions in bush flying type jobs. Once you have 2000 jet hours then the Middle East and Asia starts to open up.

The US is one of the cheapest places to fly, and if you plan it correctly you can get a visa which will allow you to work as a flight instructor for 2-4 years. The downside is you won't get into a jet with less than 1500 hours, and you won't get into one at all without permanent residency, which means you'll come home with hours but no jet time which isn't always a good thing. If you want to fly a jet with 200 hours then you need to stay in Europe, but you might be waiting anywhere from 1 month to never to get that opportunity.

US: Fast and slightly cheaper training
Plenty of opportunities to build piston hours
Few to no jet opportunities

EU: Slow and expensive training
Few opportunities to build piston hours
Can go straight to a jet, but competitive.

The good news is that all EASA modular routes start with a PPL (which can come from anywhere) so there's nothing stopping you from spending 4-6 weeks in the US getting an FAA Pvt in the sunshine. Then you can make a decision.
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