PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - JAA Flight instruction in the US...which VISA ?
Old 7th March 2011 | 02:07
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BigGrecian
 
Joined: Aug 2004
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From: EGYD
Does anyone know if there is a standard straight forward visa that is recommended for a British citizen wanting to work in the USA as a JAA Flying instructor ?
No, otherwise there would be hundreds of JAA instructors working in the USA. Think of it the other way round - why would we allow an American come to Europe and take an instructor position?

The most common route is to complete training on an F1 academic visa then complete practical training after the course or if authorised during the course. This is timeline limited however. The only way to work long term is family based immigration.

One big word of warning. There are at least 2 schools who have/do employ JAA instructors illegally. One on the West Coast has been in trouble with US immigration before : http://www.pprune.org/professional-p...ml#post5715240
Another is North East Florida and one of their instructors freely admitted to working illegally on these forums.

You also need to be dual qualified - the UK CAA require you to have solo sending privileges in the country your working in - which means an FAA CPL / CFI. The FAA also require you to be an FAA CFI to log PIC if providing instruction otherwise you can't log the hours as you can't legally provide instruction in an N reg aircraft unless you hold a CFI - and also are risking your arse if one of your students has an accident.

Remember if you get caught you risk being banned from entry to the USA for 5-10 years.

Above all - stay legal - don't lie - the consequences are not worth thinking about if your caught the wrong side of the law or an accident happens...

This is also being covered in the professional pilot forum - so will probably get merged - one of the threads is : http://www.pprune.org/professional-p...hools-usa.html
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