I'm a bit bemused by Jim Thorpe's paragraph on grandfather rights. He only considers two possibilities - that an IMC rating holder might be allowed to take the full IR TK exams and end up with just an EIR; or that an IMC rating holder would be given a full IR with no further requirements. The former is a rip-off; the latter is clearly a paper tiger, as no-one has seriously suggested it.
It has always seemed to me that one of the biggest problems for IMCR holders wanting to go for an IR is that they receive no credit for IMC flight they have already undertaken, either the 15+ hours to get the IMCR, or subsequent flights in IMC - even tests undertaken with an examiner. If I could be credited with 15 hours for the IMCR course, say 6 hours for the three renewals I've done since, plus perhaps 10 hours max for other IMC time logged, I'd be more than half way to the requirements for the IR. If you added into that a more sensible TK exam with self-study a la FAA IR, I'd call that fair and I might actually afford it.
It's not that I don't want an IR. It's just been out of my reach and up to now an IMCR isn't even a stepping stone.
Tim