I have a slightly different situation and was wondering if anyone can help shed some light on the process for me. I keep getting different answers on this!
I currently am living in the US but am a British citizen. I have a current JAA fATPL and an FAA single cpl/IR. I want to bring my FAA license in line with my JAA by adding the ME/IR. My understanding is I should be able to go to an FAA FSDO and they can issue a restricted license that will give ME privileges on a private certificate, then I take a check ride to have the full ME/CPL/IR. But when I spoke to my FSDO today they found this very confusing!
The reason I'm asking is because when I go to add the ME to my existing FAA license with a training provider, if I have the restricted license I can presumably log the ME time as pilot in command. If it in fact turns out I have to get my JAA license verified and spend 45-90 days waiting, I might as well just book straight in to do the ME course and just log the time as P/ut.
Thanks,
Andrew.