FunnyOnion,
If you're a European citizen and you've got US permanent residency pending and you're undecided where / what you want to go and do then perhaps it would make sense to get both FAA and JAA professional licences which will permit to you fly N-reg aircraft anywhere and European (JAA member) reg aircraft anywhere, increasing your options.
Gossip (and really it is largely unqualified rumours and gossip) suggests that in 12 to 24 months carriers may (or may not) be in a position to start recruiting low-hour fATPLs. In which case perhaps it would be worth looking at all options at this time.
For example, take advantage of the new conversion regs, re: conversion of foreign non-JAA ICAO professional licences. For what it costs to get a 250 fATPL in the UK modular route, you can spend 90 per cent of your time stateside now and get 1,000+ hours, JAR fATPL, FAA ATP (or at least ME CPL/IR, in lieu of 1,500 hours), MEII. Seems like a 'no brainer' to me, and if you want to fly professionally in the US you'll need the hours to meet the Part 135 crew minima anyway.
Indeed, thinking about it, I'm suprised that so many would-be professional pilot students fail in their due dilligence in regard to not only all possible routes to an ATPL (which considering the required investment really ought to go without saying), but also the state of play in the industry. Which is desperate.
Also, after spending a couple of years in the US you'll know whether you want to live here or not. I've been here two years and I've had the time of my life, but I've decided that ultimately it's not really my cup of tea.
Personally the only reason I'm pressing forward without hesitation is because the alternative for me would be to go back to doing what I used to do, and although being an executive director of a plc remunerates particularly well it is burn-out stuff and the stress is almost beyond imagination. And I ain't playing that game again. So my advice is to take the time to do the research, make a risk assessment, weigh up the pros and cons, best case and worst case scenarios, and make a hard-nosed decision. For me, at 31, I just want to do something I might actually enjoy doing for a living whilst I still have the energy.
Anyway, Johnny 7's observations are more qualified than mine. But respectfully you should be under no illusions how bad things are right now--probably the worst it's been in Europe for 20 years. If we were all rational we'd be looking at what 60 or 70 grand could buy us as an alternative to a career as a professional pilot (which, incidentally, is not even considered a profession in the US). An MBA from a reputable school such as Harvard or LSE, law school perhaps, medical school, all have infinitely better career possibilities. But neither alternative get me aroused particulary.
And on that note, I'm off to take a one-block stroll from my apartment to the beach to watch the sun set over the pacific. And then it's off to a local bar to flirt in vain with some of our female colonial cousins. T-shirt weather here. God I love this place
