CommutAir is working on sponsoring Canadian pilots

[Marinth]

The big difference being when Canadian operators did it they did so to cut costs and avoid hiring Canadians. Today in
America it seems like there are no Americans to hire and they are paying good money to fill the flight deck.

It seems that way, however it's not really the case. What's happening is because most companies are offering "hiring bonuses" guys are going to a company for a year and a half, collecting their whole hiring bonus, then seeing a wage decrease, jumping ship, and going to another company. The beauty of the H1B for these companies is you're stuck with the sponsoring company, and, besides marrying an American, there is nothing you can do to get a green card if the company doesn't want to sponsor you for one(and it doesn't really benefit the company to sponsor you for once since all that means is you can quit and work for another company). You will never flow to a mainline carrier on an H1B because it's a different employer, and after 6 years you will lose your ability to work on an H1B and be sent back to Canada just to start the search all over again to start at the bottom of a new companies seniority list. Also, if you have a spouse, they are not allowed to work in the US either. They either have to keep living in Canada, or quit their job and be a stay at home.

Now hopefully if all that happens, Encore, Jazz, Sky Regional, and GGN will be forced to pay more to attract those Canadians back to Canada, as I'd imagine there would be a rush of guys quitting to go work for proper WAWCON and you will have a good job to come back to.

[yycflyguy]

As a few posters have mentioned, it will be difficult for CommutAir to obtain visas for Canadian pilots. Pilots are not on the list of NAFTA occupations at the moment and while, in theory, they could start trying to sponsor pilots under the H1B visa, its not quite as easy as saying "Hey, we like this guy or girl and want to sponsor them to come down to the US".

For the H1B, there are some specific criteria for which type of specialty occupations can be considered and there is actually a cap on how many H1B's can be granted. I was at an immigration law talk last week and the lawyer quoted the stat that the cap is 80,000 visas each year whereas almost 300,000 folks will apply. So even if 1- Commutair decides they want you and 2- they jump through the hoops to start trying to sponsor pilots and 3- USCIS agrees that pilots are eligible for H1B visas, you still have a 73% chance of not getting selected in the lottery. Applications start on April 1st and last year they reached the cap by April 7th.

And, it's important to take a look at where Commutair's bases are: Newark and Dulles. New York and Washington are not exactly the least expensive US cities to live.

Now, this could all change depending on the NAFTA negotiations. Although most informed participants want to amend and update the list of occupations, the lead participant on the US side (Trump) doesn't seem to be all that well informed. I'm still waiting for a late night twitter rant that gets my wife's visa revoked and we have to leave the country.

Well explained

[confusedalot]

I'd be careful to assert that it won't happen. Before my time, heard of RCAF pilots that were going to United, during my beginning years Pilgrim Airlines were sponsoring Canadian pilots (but you were pretty much stuck there)

In the past, nurses and doctors moved to the US, no secret there.

Things change.

[yycflyguy]

The Medical industry and Aviation industry are very different as to who sponsors the H1B as far as stability of the employment. Pilots have never been included under TN1 visas but Nurses, MD and MD with certain specializations has been. Things do change and it would be a VERY good thing for Canadian pilots to be able to gain work authorization in the US as it would put more pressure to increase WAWCON here in Canada with a dwindling supply of licensed, experienced pilots. Unless there is a surprise in the current NAFTA negotiations, I wouldn't count on it.