Yesterday I was in a meeting with:
- Doug Perkins - Federal Security Director
- Ruben Ramos - Deputy Federal Security Director
- Joe Kelley - State of Florida Terrorism Taskforce
- Miami FSDO (via telephone)
- and members of local Homeland Security and local Law Enforcement.
Everyone except for the Miami FSDO were extremely helpful in clearing up many of the questions about the new rule. (The Miami FSDO did not have any information, since they only received their info packet the end of last week and did not understand the program yet.)
helipat,
Non U.S. Citizens that already have a valid FAA Licence, will just register on the TSA Website and will not pay any money. They will not need finger prints either.
For hour building, recurrent training, and BFRs there will be no charge, nor will there be any need finger prints to be taken.
If you are doing any training which requires an F-1, M-1 or J-1 Visa, then the $130.00 charge does apply and you will need to have your finger prints taken.
chrisbl,
Part of this new program is a consolidation of all the different agencies watch lists. This should make in the future, the entering of the U.S. much easier. They expect that once all the information of the various agencies is consolidated, the steps for entering the U.S. for Flight Training will be made even easier. This new rule will evolve for at least the next 6 months as they bring all the agencies together. Right now, they have three agencies which are not working as one - Department of State, Immigration, and Homeland Security. Part of this new rule will be to bring all of these agencies together. The FAA is resisting being brought into this program, so it looks like they will not be added.
Flying Tooth Driller,
Part of the new rule will allow the finger prints to be taken at the U.S. Embassy, as long as that Embassy is setup for it, so it could be part of your Visa Interview. I would recommend that you wait till you are at the school, since it will be a much simpler process to have the photo and finger prints taken once you arrive at the school.
The Association of American Airport Executives (AAAE) is in charge of providing the finger print card kits and students can request one should they want, but the schools will have the kits already for you. When a student goes to have their finger prints taken, they will need to bring a pre-addressed envelope (USP, FedEx, Registered Mail, DHL, etc.) since once the finger prints are taken, the student cannot have custody, they have to be mailed by an official from the agency that took the prints.
For CFI's, they will have to go though initial Security Awareness Training and a yearly refresher. Once their Security Awareness Training is completed, they will be given a card showing they they completed their training, that they will keep on them when they fly. This training can be conducted in house. The materials for this training will not be available until January 20, 2005.
I hope this helps understand the new rule a little better,
Richard
P.S. NAC is registered as training provider on the TSA Website.