mothboy - the immigration process in the US is not straightforward. I'm not for a minute suggesting that this would happen, but all you need is a small offence against your record to exclude you, so while Cristiandan is over there, it makes sense (to me anyway) to complete the FAA licence, then there are no worries of that sort (I've had a couple of students with just that problem). In short, no need to return, because air fares add to the cost.
The FAA rules as to who can claim hours are weird to say the least, so the extra would be a little bit of a buffer.
Lastly, the easy bit is getting the licence - afterwards you have to build hours so while you can get 50 extra at a relatively low cost, I would do that too.
phil