If your friend is not a US citizen/legal alien not all flight schools in the US will accommodate you. My friend from Poland did a thorough research before coming to the US for PPL (and up to CFII) training. He selected US because for great GA tradition and great aviation infrastructure plus efficient training methods. He selected Hillsboro Aviation outside of Portland, Oregon, there was also another school that he was considering around Daytona Beach, Fl. He spent 2 years at this school and already has a right-seat job on a 737-800!! By the way Hillsboro Aviation is where Chinese send their pilots-to-be for training too. Weather is good at Hillsboro during summer but deteriorates in fall/winter. They routinely handle non-US students so they know about all the TRSA procedures to get you started quickly.
I personally fly out of JATO aviation in San Francisco Bay area (they operate from more than one airport). Great equipment (for example if you want to train on latest avionics) and top notch instructors but I am not sure they can accommodate a foreigner, an email would clear the matter, but this is not an "inexpensive" school because their airplanes are close to brand new. The weather is quite stable/dependable too.
Last edited by olasek; 2nd Dec 2014 at 23:08.