I would say no, but in my experience (FAA then converting to UK CAA) a lot of people during the conversion process looked down their nose at me and my little credit card sized licence.
Issue is, flying here in the UK is seen as the modern golf club, lots of rules and elitist to a degree, in other countries its more inclusive and less stuffy in my humble opinion.
With hindsight I would have done it the same way just avoided the schools I used here and went elsewhere.
I would say to you what I said to them, a Cessna stalls at the same airspeed in American air as it does in British except it is hired for half the price per hour.