Yeah I agree with "Just Boxes" (interesting name), find out as much as you can before signing up. If it sounds to good to be true then it is! Be careful with supposed cheap PIC turbine time. many of these companies offer PIC but don't put you in the pilots seat. In other words they have an experienced pilot going to do a job and you tag along. You don't get to start the machine nor do the take offs or landing. Only the A-B stuff! Not a lot of experience to be gained with that. I had close dealings with a company in New Zealand that offered ratings on B206 and AS350 along with your CPL. Yes you got the ratings but never got to fly solo in the turbines and it wasn't an "add on" it was included in your 150 hour towards the CPL. This is okay just as long as you know that and don't think it'll be over and above the minimum 150 hours. What I trying to say is be very careful of what you get and what you expect. The other thing with doing and FAA licence is where will you use it. I spoke to the US Embassy on 4 separate occasions when in Auckland (NZ). They assured me that a work visa was very simple to get and took no time at all. At the end of the year it was a simple case of going to the local office in the States to renew it. Ha ha! When I got to the States and started asking questions to Immigration Attorneys and HAI in Florida I got a completely differant story. In a nutshell it was going to be virtually impossible to get an employer to go through the paperwork (and fork out fees) and then convince the US Embassy that no other American could do the work. Even then you had to wait 8 weeks and get back to your country of origin for an interview with the US Embassy there.
Think I'm starting to waffle on a bit and I'm sure I got more to say, so I'll get back to ya.
