I'm a Brit who happens to live and work in the US and already have an FAA PPL. I'm just about to start the FAA Instrument Rating, for many of the reasons given above, and plan to be "mixing it with the big boys" under IFR over the next couple of years. I'm a little confused about how that experience will translate when I return to the old country (UK!).
So for anyone with experience to judge, how exactly does the FAA IR differ from the CAA IMC and the full JAA IR? Is the IMC a fair equivalent, or is it just a case of the "not invented here" syndrome? Does a CAA IMC give you any IFR priviledges in the USA?