ICAO to FAA ATP - TSA & Visa
I know this is a much discussed item and I have used the search engine and trawled the net. However, I have a couple of queries that I hope someone who actually KNOWS might be able to help with.
Firstly, has anyone actually gone to the USA recently, as an alien, for the purposes of getting an FAA ATP by doing the written exam, the half dozen hours of brush up flying etc, and the check ride, WITHOUT TSA clearance? Why do I ask when a search of this website, a review of the AOPA site on the TSA, and the TSA AFSP site indicates that TSA clearance isn't required? Because Naples Air Center say they will get TSA clearance including fingerprinting on arrival, and AllATPs, on telephone enquiry, direct one to the TSA website to start getting clearance. Someone, somewhere is wrong, and it seems to be the flight schools...or is it?
Secondly, AllATPs told me on the telephone this evening that they get people from Europe and Overseas all the time to do the FAA ATP.... viz the written exam, brush up flying and check ride as advertised by them. However, they also advise they DO NOT issue I-20s and the visa is totally up to the student - 'they don't get involved in that'. This baffles me as, according to the US Visa Office, to obtain an M-1 visa you must obtain an I-20 from the 'institution'. I can't see any other way to legally get in to the USA to do the flying. Has anyone here gone to an AllATPs centre and managed to get an M-1 visa without any involvement by the school? Seems unlikely but I would interested to know.
To complete the picture, if anyone can recommend an AllATPs centre, with direct phone number - NOT their enquiry line (and a way of getting an M-1 visa with no help from AllATPs), I would really appreciate it. And if anyone else can make a genuine recommendation for somewhere else, where scheduling is not too tight at the moment, it would really help me a great deal.
Many thanks in anticipation of someone putting me straight.