EU Passport or Residency is Enough ??

[mo320777]

Dear mates

I posted before a thread about the conversion from FAA TO JAA and since i'm still thinking about doing that i'm actually a bit afraid and confused of something which is me not having the EU passport , but i will get my residency soon but i dont know if that is enough or not because if having the EU passport is a must to work as a pilot then i will definitely wont convert and save time and money.

so i hope anybody could help and share his/her experience with me .

Best Regards

[truckflyer]

You have residency?

If permanent, than you should be able to get a EU passport also, if the residency is in a EU country.

Again, you need to give complete information, to know what to advice with. As an example residency in UK, does not give your right to work in the EU, because UK are not a member of Schengen. Residency will normally only give your rights in one specific country. After X amount of years you will get a passport in that country. UK is 3 years, EU is 5 years - normally, but depends on what type of residency you have.

[mo320777]

sorry for confusing i meant to have residency in European country which is a member of schengen area , which basically will give me the right to live and work , but sometimes when i surf through the web about the requirements to get a pilot job it says EU passport is a must , so i want to know how does carriers in europe deal with this issue

so as i said before if the EU passport is a must then i wont convert because after getting my permanent residence i will wait for few years untill i get my passport !

[747JJ]

A residence permit, temporary, time limited or permanent is restricted to the country of issue. Ie you are allowed to work and live (Pay taxes) in the country that has issued you a residence permit. These permits have also different categories. Some are based on family relations such as marriage to an EU citizen or economic and or employment situation. In the latter case a residence permit could be issued based on your employment of a foreign company that chooses to base you in a European country for a longer term and you meet the residence criteria and not just those for a visa.

With a residence permit for family or other purposes you are not allowed to work for other than employers from the country of issue and you are restricted to 90 days within 180 in other schengen countries.

Lets say your spouse moves from say France, where your residence permit was issued to Germany, you would have to apply for a new residence permit in Germany and your spouse would have to be registered in Germany.

So basically the residence permit does not allow you to roam free and work for any airline or business in the union.

Quite familiar with the process as my better half holds a residence permit until meeting the requirements for a citizenship such as speaking the local language and 4 years of continuous residency.

[737-NG]

747 got it all right. I myself am a resident in France but no EU passport (at least no yet!)I have the right to work here, and travel to other schengen countries plus switzerland with no visa, but I can't just go and work there.
Save your money man, having a JAA licence is only worth it if you are a EU citizen. Besides it is the most complicated and expensive one to get, and most importantly the most strict and costly to KEEP CURRENCY with.

[arman737ng]

Sorry to interrupt... I have the same questions...

As i was thinking of taking uk residency through my wife.. I can see some of the airlines does not require eu passport. only residency is good enough.. Lets say Easyjet.. What do they do to overcome this problem.. i can understand pilot will be based in uk but what about the entries to the different eu countries to operate the flights, does he need any kind of visa for that or airline id is good enough..

737 Do you get unlimited entry to other eu for your residency or the passport that you hold? i use to carry uk residency before but i had to take visa every time i went France, netherlands, belgium etc... for vacation.. ???? was it because UK is EU member but not schengen country??

[truckflyer]

UK is not a member of Schengen, that's why you need a visa for any Schengen country you visit.

I don't know how an airline would react to that situation, also depends what country you are from. Still a residency is "long" process, first you get 2 years temporary leave to remain, afterwards you get indefinite leave to remain, and after the 3.rd year you can apply for British citizenship, and get a UK passport, so than the problem is solved.

I would assume that there would be some special visa for your situation available, maybe business visa, where you representing a UK company and temporary travelling in and out of Schengen. You should check the UK visa types/regulations.

However I am not sure what requirement the specific airline might have, normally they will have something like the right to work and live within EU, as you might not get a UK base!
But if you going to start doing it, you might as well start with step 1, and take it from there.

I doubt the airlines will want to have to much paperwork to do with this, as there is not exactly a big surplus of jobs available.

[747JJ]

My wife, a crewmember working for a European company, needed a Schengen visa for all entries into Schengen-states while working outside the said states. After we moved back to Europe, she got stamped on every trip in and out of schengen. UK did not require a visa for flights arriving as crew (on Gendeck).

My current employer also employes many non-EU citizens some with UK residence permit some with none. They all require a visa for entry in Schengen countries with passports checked and more or less regualrly, stamped for entry and exit. Working for a company with only tech stops not having a visa would not be a problem, unless your current citizenship is on the list that requires you to have a visa crew or not.

[arman737ng]

First of all thank you very much to truckflyer for the detail ans.

Also spcl thanks goes to 747jj for sharing your real life experience..

Sorry 747 have some more for you :)

1. what type of visa was it? (crew/bussiness), was it a long term visa (single entry/2yrs/3yrs/5yrs)

2. Do you need to take visa for diff diff schengen country you operate or you just take one multiple entry visa from any country and use it for whole schengen area?

Thanking you
Take care mate..

[747JJ]

The visa, when living outside Schengen, was not per se a crew visa. It was meant to allow entry for company related training, ie a multiple entry visa. However it was a multiple entry visa valid again for one year. On every flight that overnighted in Schengen area her passport was stamped and checked on entry and exit.

For work in Europe, the country of our residence issued my wife a D-visa valid for one year at the time. That D-visa allowed her to spend 3 months in other Schengen countries no other visa needed.

I'll have to check what the visa letter code is when I get back home as I cannot remember anymore.