6 weeks enough for PPL

[Irv]

I'm often consulted on this sort of question, and wouldn't dream of saying 'do this' or 'do that' as a general answer as I've found every one asking has in some way individual circumstances. A number of questions need 'asking back' before answering, demonstrated in this post alone. At the start it appears to be a question about just getting a PPL, later more information comes in about living in France and also wanting to go 'ATPL', all of which may be relevant and mean some of the well intentioned answers earlier might have been different given the new facts - for example, the intention is probably not to fly UK based N reg aircraft so any foreign I/R could easily cut the cost to a JAA I/R.
If consulted about getting to the commercial flight deck via foreign or UK routes, I usually just lay out the basic routes either 'direct' or via JAA PPL or ICAO PPL, if the latter, do you then go into JAA CPL or foreign CPL/IR first then convert? I wrote a document for people wanting to know the options to Euro airline interviews via S Africa and conversion and it is equally valid for routes FAA, NZ or anywhere. There's no 'advertising' in it, just information on various licence routes to end at the same point. I'll send citylink a link to it.
It's a difficult subject sometimes and it really comes down to personal choice with sometimes surprising results- the last person to ask me was going for just a PPL, was considering all countries, and eventually knowingly chose the (in my opinion) most risky path to getting what he wanted in the time he wanted. It seemed obvious in his paticular circumstances (which were not standard) that the Jerez route mentioned above was almost perfect with all the best safety nets, but given all the information, he eventually knowingly chose a SA school with no known track record with UK students. I'll be interested to hear the 'result' when he gets back. If he gets a SA PPL then he will be type rated, but he's gone into it knowing that. He knows what he wants to fly when he gets back and it was no doubt built in to his decision.
On that topic, SA PPLs are not confined to the UK. The automatic validation in the ANO is not 'UK airspace' limited, so I checked with the French CAA (which is where most want to go) and they confirmed if an ICAO licence is acceptable to the UK CAA in G reg aircraft (ie: 'validated'), and there are no home country rules preventing its use, then it's welcome in France in the G reg. In the same way, they would expect any foreign ICAO pilot that they had 'validated' in F aircraft to be welcome in one anywhere. This is how validations work worldwide.