Olddognew has it exactly right. It istrue to say that if you enrol in a formal course as a student then an m1 isrequired. That is not the same as needing an m1 for training at all. I did my private on the waiver and my cpl on a b1. Just make sure you have all your tsa stuff done, you wont get started without it (assuming first faa licence). Everyone is rightfully diligent about tsa, hardly anyone cares about visa status when yoou go for training, unless you are on a formal course.