EASA Licence Transfer to Germany or Netherlands

[Emkay]

Has anyone done this already? Are you able to share your experience on speed, language, customer support, cost etc?

[Magpie32]

Both speak very good English. As do Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden.

I do not know what your circumstances are but Germany has data protection laws which may make it difficult to transfer out of Germany... From CAA SOLI website:

Please note: The UK CAA has been advised by the German Authority (LBA) that, due to German national law concerning Data Protection, the LBA are unable to facilitate the transfer of pilot medical records from Germany to other States. It is therefore not possible to proceed with transfers of State of Licence Issue from Germany (LBA) to the UK (UK CAA). The only exception to the above may be where the LBA does hold the complete record for a recent applicant (after July 2016) and can make the full record available and provide a transfer form properly verified and signed by a medical assessor of the LBA.
Please note that German pilots’ licences are fully valid in all EASA member States.

[iggy]

Xin Chao Em,

I transferred my EASA license to the LBA in 2008. In the beginning it was simply great (even more so if compared to my previous CAA: Spain) because they answered all the emails promptly, they were pilot friendly, everything could be done by fax or email attachment, all communications were in English, and they didn't behave like they were god's gift to aviation.

Some years ago, however, they turned to the dark side: since they were Germans they decided that they would only speak German (luckily they were still receiving communications in English, but everything was answered in German), they stopped accepting attachments in emails "due to security reasons" so everything was to be sent my DHL or any other traceable post service, they started to take their sweet time giving feedback and, in general, they started behaving like Southern European government servants having a very bad day. I decided to transfer my license again to another country when, after receiving the fifth or sixth letter from them regarding the training qualification I was try to endorse in my license, I copied and pasted the content of the letter in google translate (the only way I had to understand any letter), and the translation came out something like "Dear Mr.XXXX, We don't understand you, we don't know what you want, and we will not process any more applications from you until you make yourself clear".

After I completed the transfer I burned that letter while dancing around it.

Now, regarding the transfer: it is true that the LBA doesn't keep any medical record from their pilots. But there is a way around that. In my case, the CAA that was going to receive my license sent the LBA a request for my medical file, and then the LBA sent ME a request for the medical reports of my last three Class I renewals. Luckily I made those renewals with a couple of AME's that are amazing human beings and were kind enough to dig in their records and send me a full copy of the reports. I sent the reports to the LBA, the LBA sent them to the receiving CAA, and voila, out of hell I was.

I don't know if this is the standard procedure in any EASA CAA or if the LBA was as eager as I was to cut our professional relationship. Anyway, I'm quite happy now that I don't have to try to understand words with more than 30 letters (most of them consonants :eek:), don't have to ask for a credit when I need to send a stack of documents halfway around the globe like we use to do in the Gutenberg era, and don't have to lock myself in the toilet and muffle my screams with a cushion every time I receive a letter from my CAA.

So, no. Don't transfer to the LBA...

About the Dutch, even the dutch pilots I know say that the Dutch CAA are a bunch of arrogant d***heads. And that is coming from A DUTCH. Go figure!

[SaulGoodman]

Why not transfer to the Irish. Imho the best and most efficient CAA in EASA-land.

[janrein]

Which I can confirm from my own experience with 3 CAA's after 2 SOLIs (years apart). However there have been indications that the IAA lately have been struggling to keep it up as they became overwhelmed with applications.

Similar good stories heard from Austro Control, with the same caveat for anyone who has not put SOLI applications in earlier.

[Pyro87]

I can recommend Austrocontrol (Austria). They have a very good reputation.

[Emkay]

Indeed, the reason why I am unable to go to the IAA is that their deadline has passed already - otherwise they would be my first choice.

Austro control seems to be inundated with applications. I would like to guarantee licence transfer before Dec 31 as I am not keen on doing my CPL/IR skill tests again, so currently looking at other states to transfer to with still a decent reputation :)

[Magpie32]

I can recommend Austrocontrol (Austria). They have a very good reputation.
Response from Austrocontrol on 28/08 regarding SOLI applications from UK:

Due to an immense increase in transfer applications in the run up to Brexit, our processing times are currently significantly prolonged, the transfer process will therefor take several months.
Because of this immense processing time, we cannot be sure, to finish the process before Brexit.
If this would be the case, your UK license is a third country license from this point on and therefore no transfer is possible anymore. Your application would therefore have to be rejected from us, a third of the costs would be charged without a positive settlement. It would probably make sense to transfer your license to another EASA state, in which the processing can be done before Brexit.

[selfin]

Emkay, "Indeed, the reason why I am unable to go to the IAA is that their deadline has passed already - otherwise they would be my first choice."

If you are content with the licence being issued next year then continue with the application to IAA.

[Magpie32]

Emkay

You might find at this late stage that any nation will be struggling to guarantee transfer by 31/12 as the UK CAA is part of the bottle neck which affects every application.

[redsnail]

Via the company I work for, my EASA CAA UK licence was successfully transferred to the Netherlands. This was done a year ago.
Biggest hassle will be doing the medical in the future (ie in 2021). Unless the Dutch Authorities recognise UK AMEs in the future, then it'll probably be a day trip to Amsterdam. (Lots of debate at the moment.)

So, pick the place you can get to easily....Just in case.

[380SUPER]

I’ve just moved licence from UK CAA to Malta, very easy process and they phoned me asking where I’d like the licence delivered.

I received it within two days in the UK.

I believe they are a small CAA but very helpful and get the job done.

[Ben Rourke]

That sounds good! Are you able to point me in the direction of the relevant Maltese forms/costs? I appreciate your help!

[roasted1217]

It appears that the only authority that clearly states they would guarantee a successful transfer now is the Netherlands as on the Kiwa website.

[OpenCirrus619]

The UK CAA have sent out a reminder ... this is an extract from an email I received last week:
Flightcrew licence holders who are considering transferring their licence to another EASA Member State are reminded of the advice to apply at least 3 months prior to the end of the transition period (31 December 2020).

Applications received after October 1st will be processed on a best endeavours basis, However, there may be insufficient time for the CAA and receiving NAA to process the application before the end of the transition period, after which the application may no longer be valid in the EU.

[roasted1217]

I'm guessing that the UK CAA is now the bottleneck in the transfer process so even if you choose a small EASA CAA like Malta your application is still at the mercy of the UK CAA. I've been told by the Swedish authority that a SOLI transfer in normal times would usually take 3-6 weeks. And Covid doesn't help in this kerfuffle either. :(

[Donatelo]

I hold my license with Finland CAA (Traficom).

The fees are little expensive but they work in emails (and also send licences abroad) , in English, respond fast and also have 2 hours per day where you can call.

I hold many ratings from different countries and never had a problem with them