US Regional Headhunting

[bafanguy]

PK4,

Thanks. That sheds some light on the issue but raises a question or two.

Each entry on the list would represent ONE person for whom a visa was sought rather than some blanket application to admit several ?

The fact that the listed regionals made formal application to use expat visa holders must mean they intend to do just that or they wouldn't have expended the administrative time/money doing it ?

So, the assumption is that they did, in fact, hire expats despite statements like this from the Expressjet (several entries on that list) pilot hiring website:

"Authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship"

I don't understand why they'd not just go ahead and admit what they're doing. It's been speculated they don't want to pay expenses to get an applicant to/from the USA for interview. Hard to say for sure, but I don't see how that's an issue considering what people are willing to do to get a job these days (P2F, buy type ratings, etc.). It'd be a smallish expense for a person to get a cheap ticket to the USA for interview if required. And there's the Skype interview and online knowledge testing, etc., for the initial cull.

As for the bachelor's degree, the "requirement" for one is established by the government criteria rather than an airline's advertised "requirements" ? Some carriers don't list it as a requirement and some just say it's "preferred" while others won't give you the time of day without it (kinda makes it a "requirement" in that context).

I've thought this visa thing was along the lines of "where there's smoke..." but the info so far has been a bit anecdotal with people understandably hesitant to spill the beans publicly. Still very interesting.