The FAA will tell you that you are, regardless of where you are born. bookworm feels differently, but I don't know whether the ICAO Annex I cite above alters his viewpoint.
No, it doesn't change my view. In a sense, the very rigidity of Annex 1 1.2.1 in contrast to the national law of UK and Ireland suggests to me that the condition intended to apply to those exercising their Chicago Convention rights, not a mandate restricting the scope of national law. Note also that while the Chicago Convention
could have said that rules regarding foreign registered aircraft are left up to the state of registry (or at least have said that the more restrictive applies), it does not. The explicit delegation to foreign regulation is very limited.
Certainly, when the subject is France, I think it would be a big mistake to be ramp-checked in France in an N-reg aircraft without either an FAA licence, or a French-issued licence.
Do you really feel that the French ramp-checkers would be so well versed in the FARs that they would distinguish between a French licence and a JAA licence that would be valid for flight in an F-reg?
That said, if my recollection of French regulation is correct, then I
do agree with that as a point of law. The French offer no analogy to the UK or Irish alternative of a national or JAA licence for a foreign registered aircraft. The pilot of a foreign registered aircraft is required to have a licence granted or rendered valid by the state of registry, period. For an N-reg, that means an FAA or French one.