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View Full Version : Seeking info on importing non-USA pilots


pa42
10th Jul 2004, 16:05
Sticking my neck out, here, & I hope the super-patriots will be gentle with me (cringe), but I know from nothing about what non-USA citizens need to do/have in order to be employed in USA.

I'm sure there must be umpteen posts on PPRuNe explaining this to the ignorant; but what to feed into the search engine? Respondents need not necessarily re-type old info, just a few references to threads or publically available texts/articles would give me as much as I need . . .

Of course, many will want to jealously protect the USA employment market for helicopter pilots; before you get all steamed up, take note that the problem is there seem to be 0 (zero) job-hunting CFI's in the USA weighing 120 pounds or less.
And that's the thrust of this project: finding flyweight R22 pilots. Interesting form of discrimination, no?

[Another (but whimsical) question: is it even legal in the USA any more to ADVERTISE for particular physical attributes? (Hmmm, "Wanted. Sumo wrestlers, minimum weight 400 pounds, must be ugly as sin, I.Q. less than room temperature.")]

Watching the hubbub over migrant wetback laborers from Mexico for many years hasn't taught me much except that there's an enormous porosity to our southern border, and that it's routine for those folks to get repeatedly deported so they can sneak back again.

Not so easy for those folks who are from the other side of the world. So let's do it legally. And what can I read about THAT?

charlie s charlie
10th Jul 2004, 16:39
The three main avenues in are:

1. J1 Visa. Certain schools offer this, its valid for 2 years for people with a PPL or less. It allows you to work, but there is always debate over the exact scope of these work rights (ie does it have to be CFI work, do you have to get "released" by the school you came in under if you want to work elsewhere etc etc)

2. Green Card Lottery. I'm told lots of scandinavians get in this way, which raises questions about the "lottery" part :suspect: ;) You have to follow some very exact procedures too or your application gets rejected and you must wait another year

3. On the advice of a poster a while back, marriage: "there is always fat girls and jobs to be had down south in the GOM" :p

Other than that, its pretty hard to get work rights. Most countries have a way for companies to bring in workers for a specific job if there are no nationals that can do the work. Perhaps that is where you need to investigate