Graduate, get your CFI, and work at a University (UND, Perdue, ERAU, KS...). After you graduate, you'll have a year to get your H1-B visa. The University you work for should be able to help you out with the sponsorship, most of them do. Once on the H1-B, you can apply for an adjustment of status and get your green card. The process takes a long time though. To give you an example, from the time I set foot on American soil with my student visa, to my very first hour in a jet, it took 9 years. Is it worth it? absolutely. Expensive? You bet. I'm dirt poor, always have been. It takes school loans, lots of them, and mucho patience. I was lucky to find a good lawyer to help me out with the green card process; though the university did all the work as far as the sponsorship was concerned. I can name at least 10 of my friends from college who did it. All of us are working for a regional airline here except one (he is an Emb175 instructor at CAE).
To conclude, don't ever listen to anyone out there who tell you it is not possible. Those are your silly negative nearsighted dogmatic views of non ambitious people. I am a broke Iranian citizen, and fly for a US regional airline (RP Awys). If I can do it, anone can...
