@aviationluver
If you are able to obtain an Indian ATP license you would be in big demand for most airlines as they can hire you , train you and after flying for a year or two as co pilot they can upgrade you to captain very quickly considering experienced captains are in very short numbers in this part of the world.
While there is a large pool of unemployed pilots in India they are mostly CPL holders fresh out of flight school. That being said dont be surprised if an airline does not hire you and instead prefers a type rated guy with no hours on type.
You will also need to pass the psychometric tests conducted by the airlines as the german wings crash has spooked the Indian DGCA and now made it mandatory for all airlines to conduct the same before hiring a pilot.
Naturally your pay wont equal that of an expat pilot as you will be paid like the locals. While most airline pilots in India make a decent amount of money and can live a comfortable life it will be nowhere near what pilots make in the U.S . Considering the U.S dollar is becoming more expensive by the day you might not make enough money to sustain a home or family or pay off debts you might have back in the U.S
The conversion process be it a foreigner, an Indian citizen or PIO/OCI holder is mostly a nightmare. If you haven't dealt with the Indian bureaucracy before the whole process can be quite daunting.
1. The biggest stumbling block PIO/OCI card holders face the is the educational qualification requirement.
The Indian DGCA requires a CPL or ATPL holder to passed the Indian equivalent of 10th grade and 12th grade and you must have had maths and physics as subjects in the 12th grade.
If you don't have this then you cannot proceed forward with the Indian license conversion . One way around this would be to enrol and pass the Indian equivalent of maths and physics from the National Institute of Open Schooling ( NIOS ) in India. You dont need to score very high marks . Justr enough to declare you passed.
I am assuming all your schooling was done in the United States . That means you will need a certificate from the Association of Indian Universities in New Delhi stating that you hold the Indian equivalent to the 10th and 12th
You will also need a letter of verification from your school board stating that your mark sheets of 10th and 12th are original as per their records ( similar to an FAA license verification letter )
2. While you are sorting out the educational requirements you will need to get an Indian DGCA medical. The Indian DGCA medical is a lot more thorough than the FAA one. You need to get a Class 2 medical first. Once you get the Class 2 medical you will get a file number using which you can apply for a Class 1 medical.
The medical is the next stumbling block you to need to overcome.
The file number is the basis on which all your pilot license details are stored at the DGCA
3. Once you get the educational requirements sorted out you can apply for a Computer Number . A computer number is issued once to a pilot and is valid for life. You use the computer number to apply for ATPCG ( conversion papers ) in which you need to pass the subjects of General Navigation , Radio Aids and Instruments , Meteorology and Air Regulations . You will need to pass two oral exams as well .
The Indian DGCA follows the EASA ATPL syllabus word for word with some extra topics for Indian Climatology and Indian Air Regs
The Indian DGCA ATPL exams are only conducted 4 times a year and not on demand as in the FAA system
You can read the syllabus here
http://www.dgca.nic.in/cars/d7b-b6.pdf
4. Flying wise you are most likely going to exceed the DGCA requirements except the requirement to have 150 hours (300 hours if its co pilot time ) within the last 1 year and 10 hours PIC within the last 6 months .
Since you haven't flown for some time you can find work as a flight instructor in the U.S and you can easily meet this requirement.
You also need to undergo the Indian equivalent of a checkride ( know as General Flying Test ) by day and night and an IR check as well at an Indian flight school.
Study this form for applying for ATPL license . It will answer most of your questions and all the paperwork needed to apply for the license.
http://www.dgca.nic.in/forms/crew-d/atpl_aR.pdf
Expect to collect a mountain of paperwork from places you have flown or just enough to certify the 1500 hours of of flying and other requirements . Dont expect the DGCA to believe your logbook blindly. They will want paperwork to justify the same. You can see the list in the form above.
When it comes to cross country time the DGCA counts a flight as cross country only if you have flown to a point outside a 100nm radius of the departure aerodrome
5. Another headache is the Indian Radio license . My suggestion is to head over to Canada and convert and obtain a Canadian CPL/ATPL and a Canadian RT license. This way you can skip exams in India and convert directly since licenses are from Commonwealth countries are converted easily.
You are also going to need security clearances from the Ministry of Home Affairs ( MHA ) at various stages even though you hold an PIO/OCI card . Similar to how the TSA requires clearance for foreigners.
They wont give the security clearance to you. They will only forward it to the authority that requests the same. You will need security clearance for applying for the RT license , obtaining a computer number and finally when the license is issued as well. Security clearances can take a few months to get issued.
From my conservative estimates its going to take atleast a year or more to get all the paperwork in order and to pass the dgca written and oral exams
Good luck
