Av8rdan's World of Flying
Some people are making this out to be a sudden, petulant outbreak from the State Department, it is not. It has nothing to do with terrorism, borders or GW Bush, its those J1 students, from all professions, who have overstayed their visas to work illegally in the US. Unfortunately, it affects pilots who are a fraction of the total J1 visas issued every year and as a group are probably the least to blame. That is an assumption on my part because most pilots I know tend to be law abiding and more conscientious than the average
and employers have to be careful who they hire so they also toe the line, when convenient.
Cross pollination of ideas, training and techniques is always a good thing and it is a pity that some of the experience as a CFI will be lost. The real losers are the flight schools who will need to train and employ US CFI's for the JAA syllabus and they will need to pay more because they cant use desperate J1 holders anymore. Some CFI's will need to get a JAA instructors rating, I wonder how many will be able to work in JAA land?
The amount of money that is spent by the students is not even a drop in the ocean to the US economy so I don't believe that is very relevant. It certainly is not bad for the economy but I don't think the treasury is unduly concerned about running dry.
Oz and NZ may be in the running for JAA training but don't bank on South Africa, too much corruption in the CAA there is going to reduce the credibility of the licence obtained there, even though the training is of a high standard. It will also be very difficult to work there as work permits are definitely more difficult to obtain than a J1 visa has been.