Foreign FAA CFI

[omer_pe]

Hi
I'm Israeli, 25 years old, throughout the last year I had all my licenses done from student pilot to CFI/CFII, and I am very happy of my progression, and I did it in a relatively not expansive cost here in the USA.
my problem begins now, I havent got any working permits in the USA, or a green card, since I'm not a citizen, and although there is a great need for CFI's here, no one would sponsor me, saying it's impossible for them. now I am very flexible and I can pretty much find myself anywhere in the world in order to progress this career I want of mine- getting into a big airline.
I tried googling flight schools around asia and sending them my CV, and all over the world basicly.
I have 370 TT flight hours now.
does anyone have any idea or suggestion?
would appreciate any tips or valueable information.
thank's ahead,
Omer.

[mattpilot]

Can't help ya with 'anywhere in the world', but if your still in the US then there are employment opportunities, although not that attractive considering the amount of paperwork.

If you were on a F-1 Visa you could apply for a OPT, or optional practical training, which is good for 1 year after you graduate to teach & get experience. This is what i did.

If you were smart enough to get a bachelor degree while u were in the US, you could apply for a H-1b visa that would allow you to work for up to 4 years, renewable one time for another 4 years. Problem here is its not only expensive for you (3-4k $) but also for the school as there's security costs & fraud prevention costs the school must pay and can't push off to the prospective employee (1-1.5k $). Other thing is, the H-1b program is currently overloaded and only 60% get accepted. Gotta apply by May 1st and then it can take up to 18 months for you to get your working permit. I was going to do this, except the college i was going to continue to work for had an employee that was less than competent and fumbled with my application - thus i missed the deadline.

Although as i said, the costs involved & the waiting period make this approach not very undesirable. Only reason to do it is because at the end of 3-4 years you can apply for a greencard (which will take another 2-3 years, if lucky, to get).


In an optimal situation with competent school officials that actually help you and not screw you over, and i realize this doesn't help you omar, but maybe others, is to go to a school that has a 4 year college program while you learn to fly. After 1 year in school and good grades you can work partime 20 hours a week. If you have your CFI certificate than you can already start flying while continuing to go to school for the bachelor program. Once your graduation nears, be sure to apply for the OPT to tide you over 1 year from the point you graduate to the point you get your H-1B visa. After you graduate, immediately start applying for the H-1B and hope all goes well. If your lucky enough to get it, apply for greencard in 3-4 years. Just FYI, thats a lot of years to spend as a flight instructor in the hopes of eventually getting a greencard. I know a few fellas who've done that.

[mattpilot]

:E sure, if it weren't for the following types of woman that are most predominent in america :ugh:

- those that wanna wait years & years to make sure your the right guy totally ignoring your allowable duration of stay (visa) (and by gawd you can't mention that or you'll get accused of marrying only for the card :ouch:)
- or those that want to have babies the moment the knot is tied :hmm:

[omer_pe]

well first of all thanks for your reply mattpilot, appreciate it a lot, but unfortunately I couldnt afford to pay for 3-4 years of studying and living here, it's going to be another at least 30-40K$ extra a year altogether...
Ummm, merriage? I dont know about that, I would really rather try all other options before messing with such stuff, does anybody have any idea of ways to find other job openings for people with low hours like me anywhere?

[zondaracer]

I heard that in australia they are issuing work visas for flight instructors. I am not sure about the license requirements. I did see flight instructor on the list of approved professions on an official australian government website but I don't know the chances of getting the work permit. Perhaps you could find a school in Australia, contact them and see what they have to say.

Otherwise, marry an American girl, you'll get the green card. I know a stripper who will marry you for $5000 just so you can get your green card, no strings attached.