Onno,
WELL SAID OL' CHAP!!
As usual, the people that are really paying for someone elses stupidity are the legitimate decent folks. OK, fine, The US wants to keep foreigners out, fine, who am I to say who should be allowed into their country, but honestly, are the training centers doing ANYTHING to solve this problem?? I mean, really, centers like Flight Safety MUST depend on foreign pilots coming for training. How are they serviving? Do they have a choice? Are they putting up a fight? Or do they even care??
In the end, with all the increased security, is stoppping people from being trained on aircraft above 12,500 lbs. really the solution. Is that really where the problem lies? If the security measures are sufficient at the borders to stop the S.O.B.'s there, than does it really matter where they were planning on going??
OR, here's another idea, why not work together with the training centers (that is if they are not doing so already) to determine who CAN and who CANNOT enter the country for flight training. For example, if someone with a Private ticket signs up for a Left Seat 767 course, that should set off alarms and some form of investigation should be carried out, but a person that has been to FS a number of times and has shown some form of typical progression through the industry SHOULD be allowed to enter for further training.
What do you folks think?