CANADA to USA - VISA's, Work Permits & Finding Work

[newlyexpat]

There has been much interest and conversation regarding Canadian's relocating and working in the United States.

I though it would be a good idea to start a thread dedicated to this topic and we can share our personal experience.

Available USA visa options for flight crew include EB2 NIW, O-1, TN, etc. All options are expensive, (up to 20K USD+ depending on immigration law firm and requested visa). A job offer with sponsorship is the best and fastest option (15 day VISA processing with express option paid by sponsor). Self sponsored options can take 6 to 12 months for processing.

My experience is as follows:

I was able to qualify for a O-1 Visa.

I was able to meet 4 of the 8 extraordinary ability criteria (3 are required for O-1 Visa eligibility).
Google search O-1 eligibility for a detailed list if interested. I met the following criteria:

1. Have you ever participated as a judge of the work of others.. - You meet this if you have ever managed or trained pilots/staff, conducted performance reviews, review/supervision of day to day work, involved in hiring/promotion of staff, conducted/reviewed FOQA audits, Quality Assurance Audits, Safety Management Investigations, hold an ACP/flight test examiner, etc.

2. Have you produced any original scientific, scholarly, or business related contributions of major significance in your field of expertise - You can meet this if you have ever worked in the business side of aviation, worked on any major projects for your company, worked on aircraft acquisition projects, reviewed or set profit/loss goals, financial goals, authored manuals, procedures/sop's, work instructions, or other business/operations projects, etc.

3. Have you ever worked in a “critical or essential” capacity for an organization - You can meet this requirement if you have held a training captain, supervisory, leadership or management role within an organization.

4. Have you, or will you, receive a high salary - You can meet this criteria if you are at the top salary range, essentially a senior captain or manager should be able to meet this criteria. Also starting captain salaries in the USA on a heavy biz jet tend to be in the 250k USD range annually which additionally qualifies you in this category.

The advantage of the O-1 visa is that if you qualify, there are unlimited number of these Visa's issued (therefore very fast processing times). Most other visa's are generally lottery based with long vetting/wait times (6 to 12 months). There are a set amount of these lottery based VISA's issued annually. This makes it more competitive, and generally you require significant skills and flying experience for approval. This being said, being sponsored by an employer in most cases guarantees approval and gives you a much higher approval advantage in regards to lottery based visas (or any Visa). Having access to a good immigration lawyer is also highly recommended.

An issue one may experience in regards to this process is Visa interview wait times (once formally approved) are very long in Canada.

Current wait times for interviews in at US embassies in Canada range from 70 to 120 days dependant on embassy/consulate location.

Wait times in Europe and South America for interviews can be as fast as 1 to 7 days (I travelled to South America as I need my visa ASAP). This is the last step in visa issuance.

In regards to sponsorship, the key to successfully being hired by an American operator is to hold a PIC type rating and flying experience on the aircraft they are hiring for - as this makes you a very favourable candidate.

I would highly recommend researching jobs on types which you hold a rating. Contact the CP and/or HR and present a case detailing hiring/sponsoring you would be cost efficient and beneficial, over hiring a non-type rated/non-experienced pilot off the street.

Most Part 135 companies are not experienced hiring foreign pilots, you may need to walk them through the process.

If you cannot be sponsored this entire experience may be more difficult.

Keep in mind that SIC/FO type ratings are NOT transferable from a Canadian to USA licence during the conversion process.

The work around is to attend a FAA upgrade/recurrent type rating course for the particular aircraft type. Even if you are current on an aircraft type (PIC/SIC), part 135/121 operators will require you to attend a recurrent course as part of their initial company pilot training program (regardless if you recently completed a TC recurrent/initial course in the very recent past).

If you fly for a part 91 operator, these above mentioned rules may not apply to you.

Additionally, if you are hired by a Part 135 or 121 operator, I highly recommend the license conversion process be completed and you have a permanent FAA certificate/card issued prior to starting the job search process, and certainly before USA recurrent, upgrade, or initial type rating.

(Note - It is possible to convert a CDN CPL to FAA ATP through a type rating upgrade course, however the issued type rating is only valid for Part 91 private flying if not attending a specific Part 135/121 company training program - the result being you will need to attend the training program/check ride twice!).

If the initial type, upgrade, recurrent training program you are attending falls under your sponsor companies Part 135/121 training program, and the training is authorization by a training manager, CP, or DFO, the above would not be an issue.

An advantage for having a permeant FAA license card prior to stating your hiring process is that you will have an airman’s certificate number issued.

If you only have a temp certificate, you license will state: license number PENDING.

The certificate number will only be issued once you receive your permanent license card in the mail. This can take up to 120 days after issuance of temporary certificate.

You will need a license number to meet a few Part 135 /121 requirements to operate an aircraft as flight crew. These include setting up a PRD account, submitting PRIA background documents, NATA security and background checks, etc.

The amount of paperwork, background checks, etc the FAA require before a pilot is released for Part 135/121 flight operations is mind boggling in comparison to TC. Once you are offered a job, expect this process to take up to a few months.

This information is based on my experience and information from my immigration lawyer. Your experience may differ.

[Blueontop]

Let’s get this thread stickyed to the top!

[digits_]

Where does the major expense of 20k+ come from? Is an immigration lawyer a requirement? Do you have a breakdown of those fees?

[Aspiredtofly]

We need a total breakdown of all costs required that are mandatory, from moving to training expenses and all

[JHR]

CTP course was $4000usd plus hotel, airfare rental car.
Exam was around $140usd.
FAA conversion paperwork was free if done by the FAA, if done by a Designated Pilot Examiner it was going to cost me $700usd.
Study course was around $100usd.

I will leave the immigration costs to someone else as I haven't gone down that road yet.

[Ash Ketchum]

From my understanding, TN is not a valid visa option for pilots. I wish it were because that would make it super easy.

[CanadaAir]

This thread is having similar discussions:

viewtopic.php?t=182605

[goldfingeraviation]

I’m glad another one of these has started. I spent most of my time building in the southwestern US and grew up between Kelowna and Arizona. I am trying to get down there for work at some point in the future but getting my hours up. The other easiest way to do it for us single guys is to find a girl down there in all seriousness though I honestly feel that in the next few years from now that it might get easier to get down to the US. If that were to happen, Canada would be screwed and companies would have to start paying us pilots more to try and keep them here. I believe it will happen in the coming years though.