Geez peoples attitudes stink!
Before I went north I made sure I had three things:
DG Certificate
First Aid
Night Rating
Sadly, there are many Pilots with none of these, that thinks the world owes them a favour because they have a CPL.
A MECIR is not a substitute for a NVFR rating. The MECIR needs to be current to use it, and there are different considerations for planning purposes. All you need for the NVFR rating is a take off and landing in 6 months and a one hour cross country flight in 12. You won't be carrying punters in a single, so there is no need to satisfy the 3 take off and landings in 90 days. The rest is pretty simple to keep current on dead charter legs.
I have a NVFR rating with NIL restrictions so I can fly multi engine types on the rating. (not that I need this anymore)I would suggest the fellas pull their fingers out of their
and get on with it.
GG