Does anybody know what the "certified proof" is?
At best, it will prevent old logbook entries being used towards a U.S. license or a rating, where "old" is any training done by any instructor who is no longer on the instructor scene, or any instructor who flew with you on a casual "help for a mate" basis, which applies to a great deal of training towards e.g. an FAA IR.
If OTOH you go to the USA, they assume your logbook is not a forgery and all previous training is accepted. After all, you have to pass the oral+checkride.
It might be very hard to do a US PPL (which is what the OP is asking about) in Europe now, because such a PPL is done almost totally on the basis of long-ago UK (or French, in his case) training. It's different for an IR because of the extra time required to meet the standard is likely to have been done much more recently.
I have already collected all feasible bits of FAA paper so this is of academic interest to me, but it seems like the USA is an increasingly good option. The TSA and Visa stuff only takes a day or so extra.
Last edited by IO540; 16th May 2010 at 14:33.