This is what causes much of the confusion with newbies on this website. Nobody ever says how they were able to get a work visa in a country, they just post something along the lines of,

"I moved from Argentina to portugal and got a job with easyJet etc".

Are you a Portuguese citizen already? Where you sponsored? Is your wife Portuguese?

So when people read this they just think if you are a Pilot you can just live and work wherever you want.

And no you don't necessarily need EU citizenship to live and work in the EU. In the past Avion express and a few others will sponsor a visa for you.

Seems like a few guys have been invited for the online assessment! Good luck everyone!

Has anyone here got the invitation for the assessment yet?

Late last century the Dutch government provided work permits for non-EU citizens when KLM was unable to hire enough Dutch licensed pilots. They even helped them with the transition to a Dutch ATPL. Once the EU license was implemented, they were no longer able to do that.

Thank you for the insight.

The system is really quite different than what you are used to at AA. There are no hourly rates; the salary is more or less the same each month. On long haul each trip has an associated value depending on block hours, time zone changes, and time away. The time off after each trip depends on this value, and must be taken at the end of each trip. There are no drops, pick-ups, trades, or combining trips to pool your days off. Someone who flies 80% gets 20 percent less Euros per month than a full-timer, but gets 20 percent more time off. And flying a part time schedule allows you to extend your career by retiring later.

If you are 80% part time, you could never get to 900 block hours per year, because you would be scheduled for time off that is mandatory to take. If somehow you did, you wouldn't be paid more in money, you would have accumulated extra days off in the bank that would eventually be returned to you.

What is your background and when did you apply ?

Same here, just got hired at an airline close to NL with 2500TT.
How are you preparing for the assessment?

Hi !
Do you know in what consists the online tests ?
have a geat day !

No you don't. You must have the right to live and work in The Netherlands. Apply for a verblijfsvergunning (residence permit). Its based on your personal situation. All on line.

You cannot get one of those without already having the job, and KLM are not currently sponsoring those visas for non-EU residents. I know this because I emailed them and they told me so. So at the moment, you must have right to live and work in the Netherlands (aka right to live and work in the EU) to be eligible for this opportunity.

I have the hope the company lift the need for EASA licence (and make a smoother conversion process) like they did back in the day, as I’ve read in some aviation articles they might face a pilot shortage.

I mean, of course you need EU citizenship, and although this will totally depend on the number of experienced pilots applying for the job, it’s worth nothing to dream about it, even though I have started my EASA conversion already.

Virgin Atlantic is sponsoring non-uk citizens.

I'd imagine they'd start sponsoring visas before they do that, since its not really KLM that gets the say on that, aviation authorities would be involved too. On the flip side, if they can prove that they can't hire enough EU citizens, it then becomes fairly simple to sponsor visas.

But sponsoring visas for who? I guess they’d sponsor only for people who are non-EU citizens, right?
And it’s not that simple to find people that are non-EU citizens to hold an EASA Licence.

Quite a lot of Brits I think!

isn’t it better for Brits to go BA or VA rather than KLM?

I'd rather go to KLM than BA or VA. :)
Basically a good 99% of British pilots currently flying for Ryanair all hold EASA licenses, so there's a large pool of people there that would potentially be very attracted by a job with KLM.

My estimate of those actually interested from that specific pool would be very little. From my experience, the big bases are populated with a lot of spanish/italian/portuguese pilots. A lot of Brits for sure, but they tend to be local to their base and/or captains/FOs who have set up quite a nice little life for themselves, especially the ones at the regional bases. It won't be easy getting them thinking about elsewhere, not least a job in AMS and the commuting etc.