The UAE GCAA allows ONE straight conversion of an ICAO license from another participating state. This means if you had an FAA CPL/ME/IR license you would get a training authorisation from the GCAA, sit the local air law examination and once the paperwork is done you will be handed a GCAA CPL. However you MUST be employed and sponsored by your airline before the initial authorization for license conversion is processed.
If you are a young/new pilot working in the sandbox on a CPL and you want to upgrade your license to ATPL, you MUST obtain your ATPL elsewhere and convert again to the GCAA. There is NO approved GCAA course for the ATPL. After obtaining your ATPL, you would be required to sit a GCAA ATPL written exam and I believe some company specific training and then the GCAA will give you a local ATPL. This is worth taking into consideration if you hold a JAR license as they are so anal about aircraft type flown when unfreezing your license. What a lot of guys do is once they hit the FAA ATPL requirements is get a US ATPL and convert on that. It should also be worth noting however, that in order to hold a UAE ATPL you must be 25 AND hold 1500 hours PIC! Thats a pain in the ass because all your SIC time only counts to 1 half PIC. Thats my understanding on the licensing, I think its pretty spot on, but feel free to correct me if Im wrong.
Back to the question on what license to proceed with, it totally depends on where you are from and where you have work elligability. If you are not a gulf national there is no way you are popping up in the sandbox with a brand new CPL and 250 hours to get a job. You must get a job at home or wherever for a few years before you have enough experience to start sending out CV's. And even then remember, a good portion of the pilots in the world also have their CVs in aswell. All in all and worldwide, the JAR license, if you have the patience is the way to go, but if you dont have work elligability in Europe it could be a waste of time. If you are Japanese get a Japanese license, whatever, as far as the UAE authorities go they dont really care!
Hope that helps
Cheers
DB
