JAA Flight instruction in the US...which VISA ?

[stupix]

I have been having conversations with many European nationality pilots who work as instructors in the USA and each seems to have a different story of how they got a Visa to work for for US based school teaching the JAA PPL, CPL etc, whether it be having studied at University in the US, married and US citizen etc.
Does anyone know if there is a standard straight forward visa that is recommended for a British citizen wanting to work in the USA as a JAA Flying instructor ?

[BigGrecian]

Does anyone know if there is a standard straight forward visa that is recommended for a British citizen wanting to work in the USA as a JAA Flying instructor ?

No, otherwise there would be hundreds of JAA instructors working in the USA. Think of it the other way round - why would we allow an American come to Europe and take an instructor position?

The most common route is to complete training on an F1 academic visa then complete practical training after the course or if authorised during the course. This is timeline limited however. The only way to work long term is family based immigration.

One big word of warning. There are at least 2 schools who have/do employ JAA instructors illegally. One on the West Coast has been in trouble with US immigration before : http://www.pprune.org/professional-pilot-training-includes-ground-studies/416289-ice-busts-california-flight-school-massive-visa-fraud-scheme.html#post5715240
Another is North East Florida and one of their instructors freely admitted to working illegally on these forums.

You also need to be dual qualified - the UK CAA require you to have solo sending privileges in the country your working in - which means an FAA CPL / CFI. The FAA also require you to be an FAA CFI to log PIC if providing instruction otherwise you can't log the hours as you can't legally provide instruction in an N reg aircraft unless you hold a CFI - and also are risking your arse if one of your students has an accident.

Remember if you get caught you risk being banned from entry to the USA for 5-10 years.

Above all - stay legal - don't lie - the consequences are not worth thinking about if your caught the wrong side of the law or an accident happens...

This is also being covered in the professional pilot forum - so will probably get merged - one of the threads is : http://www.pprune.org/professional-pilot-training-includes-ground-studies/418519-m1-visa-no-visa-sevis-approved-schools-usa.html

[stupix]

Thanks big Grecian
I totally agree with you, I'm living in the US with a Visa but it's specific to my job here, i have social security number and the right to live here for 5 years but can't teach flying on it. A friend of mine here was deported 2 weeks ago for working (without getting paid) whilst on a holiday Visa and is now banned from the country for 10 years without any appeal process.
Correctly legal is the way forward.
I was attending a Jaa school in florida last week for ground school and whilst i was there they employed 5 new Jaa instructors. When I enquired to the CFI about how they got Visa's for them all i was told they are all American.
The funny thing was I bumped into 2 of them in the study area, the new American instructors seemed to have Doncaster and Bolton accents.....

[stupix]

fortunately SoCal I was only doing ATPL ground school as my training provider rents classroom space at the school so no problems with the certification being valid.
I currently have an iVisa which is not tied to employers fortunately so I have freedom on movement work-wise with for whom I work for but I have to stay in the same industry which a bit of a pain.