I believe they will all have to be converted to EASA by Sep 2014
Where did that little gem of misinformation come from?
Well actually BillyBob, since you've asked - albeit in a way that I feel was a little unnecessarily aggressive - I'll tell you the whole story, which I've now read back from the notes I made at the time.
It was the CAA "helpline". When I realised that I would probably pass my GFT during the transition period and be in the position described by JAJW, I phoned them up to ask whether I should apply during the transition period or wait until EASA licences were issued.
They were less than helpful and said it was up to me. I kept asking questions though and was eventually told if I applied during the transition period for a JAA licence, I'd have to convert it later to an EASA one. I was told at the time that the price for this conversion had not yet been determined and no-one in the CAA would know, but it would probably be around £150, and that although the JAA licence was 5 years it would need to be converted by Sep 2014.
Unsatisfied with the quality of the response I asked to speak to a manager and was told none were available. I was eventually rung back by the head of Engineering licencing who basically said she hadn't really a clue about this as it was pilot licencing. I asked to speak to the head of Pilot Licencing and was told no-one was currently in that post. I asked in turn to talk to their superior who i was told was the head of licencing, but was told that they were on holiday. I pointed out the absurdity of there being no-one in authority regarding pilot licencing in possibly the most critical period in that area for decades, and that it really wasn't acceptable that no-one knew what was going on. (I may even have said that "if I behaved so incompetently in the cockpit, they'd take my licence away!"
).
I was told the head of licencing would ring me back on his return from leave. In the end someone saying they were the acting or former licencing manager rang me back and tried to have a go at me for saying the department was incompetent. (note the wording of what I said, I didn't say they were incompetent, though clearly that was the sentiment behind my politically-correct self-criticising simile). Eventually he calmed down enough to tell me it would cost £73 to convert the 3 year JAA licence, and if it wasn't done for change of address/new ratings, it would need to be done by 7 Apr 2015 (I'd forgotten this later "update" when I made my post yesterday, but the point was that according to what I was told by the CAA, the JAA licence will not be valid for the full 5 years). He told me that they knew exactly what they were doing and had plenty of resource to cope with the transition. About a week later they publicly announced the revised and delayed end of the transition period.
I do have the names of the individuals concerned, but as I'm sure you'll understand I won't give them here.
So make of that what you will. To be honest I wouldn't put much weight of any of what the CAA said to me in person, that's why I didn't even mention that it had come from them. The docs referred to by riverrock83 at least give some confidence, but as he and I have said it's far from clear. For me the clear *possibility* of IMCr on the JAA as opposed to adding IR(R) to an immediate EASA licence means that for me it was the way to go despite the knowledge of at least an extra £73 (no doubt that will go up in the months and years ahead) being hoovered from my wallet by the CAA at a time and amount of their choosing.
HTH