G'day Night flight,
Not true what you've been told above, you can get a job in EU without a JAA licence.
Of course the easiest ones would be the corporate jobs because a lot of A/C are Non JAA registered, but also with the airlines.
It really depends on individual countries.....the JAA rules are common rules that should be follow but countries can still have their own, let me give you some examples:
In UK you can get a 1 year validation, once in your lifetime (this applies to few countries) but in Ireland you can get an indefinite 6 month validation where as in Holland it is a 1 year indefinite validation.
Now you also have to look at company requirements (not CAA), ie. Ryanair is an Irish company, they could give you a job on a perpetual validation but they will ask you to get a JAA licence with 18 months......don't ask me why 18 months, that how it is!
(For info quite a few Qantas guys on unpaid leave are currently working for Ryanair)
Here's an other example, in UK if you have more than 3000H on A/c above 30T in which 1500 is PIC, you can get a UK ATPL after doing only 2 exams.......(as far as I know UK is the only country in EU doing that).
In Eastern Europe try SkyEurope or Wizz Air, they also employ guys with Non JAA licences.....
Good luck!
Cheers
