My "novel" path comes straight out of the FAA's Flight Standards Information System. For some reason the FAA web site won't copy on an ipad so here you go. Notice the requirement for the training by an FAA CFI in the first NOTE. And it looks like I missed a step. Not only to you have to pass the standard IR written test or the Foreign Pilot Instrument test but you also have to pass a standard IR checkride to add the IR to the 61.75 based on cert. Then you get the US TEST PASSED and then there is a way to move the type ratings to a regular ATP. I'll admit I've never heard of anyone doing this and if you walked into most FSDOs proposing this there would be lots of head scratching and phone calls.
Type Rating. When a type rating is shown on the U.S. pilot certificate (meaning a U.S. pilot certificate that was issued on the basis of a foreign pilot license), that aircraft type rating will be limited to “VFR ONLY” if the person has not passed either the IFP knowledge test or the standard instrument rating knowledge test and the standard instrument rating practical test (refer to §
61.65).
NOTE: Applicants who apply for a type rating with the notation “U.S. TEST PASSED” on their U.S. pilot certificate must have received the required training from a holder of an FAA flight instructor certificate with the appropriate ratings (refer to §
61.63(d) or §
61.157(b), as appropriate). If the aircraft type rating is for an aircraft with a gross takeoff weight of greater than 12,500 pounds, the applicant must also complete a background security check administered by the TSA. The reporting requirements of the TSA’s background check is on its Web site at:
https://www.flightschoolcandidates.gov/afsp2/?acct_type=c§ion=WN.
NOTE: Once the applicant has qualified for the “U.S. TEST PASSED” rating on a U.S. pilot certificate under §
61.75, the aircraft rating and/or type rating annotated with the notation “U.S. TEST PASSED” is eligible for transfer to an unrestricted U.S. pilot certificate without any further showing of competency or practical test if the applicant later obtains an unrestricted U.S. pilot certificate.
Sorry about the formatting.