@foswillruletheworld
Thought I'd share some info. I am a permanent resident and have a green card and been working in USA for a regional carrier for a year now.
First, the requirements on the website of airlines like Delta, United and American are not the requirements that will get you an interview. They are many things that they look for besides meeting the minimum requirement- reference letters from pilots of their own company, meeting recruiters at job fairs, and competitiveness with other applicants, contacts you have etc.
Being a green card holder doesn't make it difficult but makes it more challenging to get hired. Because you need a passport without any restriction on travel. But that shouldn't be a problem with Turkish passport.
And on an average people who get hired at major airlines are Military, Air Force and Navy pilots who have 1500 or more hours. If you have civilian experience you can be looking at anywhere from 5000-10,000 hrs of total time. Average of about 6500 hours.
Having wide body experience doesn't make much of a difference. The pilot who has 6000 hrs on a CRJ/ERJ has similar chances as guys with experience on 777 with similar hours. Met a guy who got hired at delta recently. He flew regional airline for 5 years then another 5-6 years at emirates on 777 and finally got a call for interview. He had 7-8000 hrs I believe. And you need 1000 hrs pic on multi engine jet for a civilian pilot. Some FO do get hired without PIC time but that's rare and ones who have great connections with the company.
And in USA they is regional airlines model, which not a lotta pilots know about. The flying is outsourced to other companies to fly for delta, United and American airlines. They fly the 50-76 seater CRJ/ERJ jets and some fly the turbo props. They fly on contract for the major airline. Getting hired at regional airline would be easy with your hours. However the pay is not even close to the majors.
And last about your green card, good luck. But if you have a green card, you need to reside in USA for a good time and getting a job outside USA would be challenging. Coz if you travel out of USA and stay out of USA for longer period of times, then your green card can be cancelled. The period can be anywhere from couple of months to 6 months on a regular basis.
And my advise, I'm not sure which airline you work for, but if you are not happy with pay then my advise would be to go to Middle East, you will make a lot more money. You will work more of course but if you plan on moving to USA I'd plan on starting at a regional airline and look at about $20,000 to $24,000.
Most probably you can make a whole lot more with your software engineering degree. But then flying part time is challenging, but something can always work out.