Hey guys!
Just wondering if someone can give me the heads up on the process of getting a working visa for the USA.
Im currently sitting at 210hrs with a Multi-IFR. I do have relitives in the USA, they are based in Arizona; I heard something about them sponsoring me making it easier?

Any information will help! Good firms to contact, websites for american based jobs ect ect. Even just about the move to the USA!

Thanks for the help.

Duff,

Unless your relatives in the USA are your immediate siblings (parents, bro, sis) then they cannot sponsor you. Also, I believe you have to be under 21 years old (it may not be 21, but there is an age limit in the low 20s).

All my dad's family are American citizens and I could not get sponsored. The only way for a pilot to get into the USA to work is to marry an American woman and get citizenship through her (and this process takes a lot of time too), or, you can go there as a flight instructor I believe, but this is not easy either.

For a profession as a pilot, unless you have a greencard, you will not be able to work in the USA. It sucks, but that's just the way it is. Doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, etc, can go there no problem due to the nature of the work and the "shortages" down there and around the world. Don't expect any company to sponsor you as a pilot, as they cannot do it.

Good luck.

C-HRIS wrote: Don't expect any company to sponsor you as a pilot, as they cannot do it.

Good luck.

Not 100% correct.... canadian pilots can still work in the US on an H1B visa which must be initiated by the perspective employer. If you know the right people a 3 year visa with a renewal option is available.

this is true, but also the sponsor they have to prove that you have a "specialised skill". This is not esy to prove for a pilot unless you are in some sort of special mission work. As far as I know, flying a passenger or cargo type operation won't cut it. It has to be something like fire bombing, geophys survey, photo or something specialised like that.

I believe the employer will have to prove to the government that no local citizens posess the required skills. They will have to advertise the job domestically for a prescribed period, and if noone qualifies, then they can sponsor from abroad. I believe this is how it is done.

Just keep lifting freight instead of using the company computer to quit. Big Brother is watching!

wallypilot wrote:this is true, but also the sponsor they have to prove that you have a "specialised skill". This is not esy to prove for a pilot unless you are in some sort of special mission work. As far as I know, flying a passenger or cargo type operation won't cut it. It has to be something like fire bombing, geophys survey, photo or something specialised like that.

It WAS pretty easy to argue that a pilot is a specialized skill especially if you had a type rating.... it doesn't get much more specialized than that. However, the times have really changed over the past 5 years and because of fear in the US, H1B's have been limited and all types of visas are scrutinized more closely due to the overwhelming fear of non citizens working in the US. The terrorists, I am afraid, won the war.

i don't think it was just the events of 911 that has caused this. Our company has the same problems with other professions as well. For some reason, the NAFTA Waiver that allows us this privelege is often being ingored by the immigration officials. If you have money and pay an immigration lawyer (that's what our company does every time we want a 3 year L1-B Visa) and you have a sponsor company in the U.S., then it can be done. cost ya a couple grand, though. Their resistance is purely xenophopia(IMHO), and frankly quite a piss off. but, mind you, look at all of those canadian pilots that go ballistic when they find out there are (were) some yanks working for jetsgo.

Well I found a good immigration lawyer out of Toronto. I'm still a little skeptical about the entire USA situation though. Are the rumors true about being in the USA is like advancing your career by 10 years? And that it is truely easy to find a great flying job down there?
Basically what it comes down to is; IS this worth my time and money to get a visa, convert my license, and bum around until I find a sponsoring company?!

Thanks guys

Sterlingthepilot wrote:Well I found a good immigration lawyer out of Toronto. I'm still a little skeptical about the entire USA situation though. Are the rumors true about being in the USA is like advancing your career by 10 years? And that it is truely easy to find a great flying job down there?
Basically what it comes down to is; IS this worth my time and money to get a visa, convert my license, and bum around until I find a sponsoring company?!

Thanks guys

As your immigration lawyer will tell you; you can not solicit employment within the US without your visa. Meaning you can't enter the US posing as a tourist with the intent of finding work. Second, unless you know someone that has basically said to you that they will hire you and submit the paperwork on your behalf (and pay for it ~$4kUSD) it will be extremely dificult to find an employer willing to do that. The aplicant (you) can not submit any of the paperwork. Thirdly, the US is not the rose garden that many believe it to be. Shady operators that cut corners are more prolific than in Canada. Approxiamately 8000 pilots furloughed from the major carriers. Wage scales that are, for the most part, below Canadian standards but with a higher cost of living. Yes there are more jobs but there is also greater competition in the number of pilots in the US.

IMHO you would be wise to wait another couple of years to see if US sentiment towards foreigners entering to work changes. The government is looking to further restrict H1B's and NAFTA visas.

Sterling

You'd be wise to listen (or perhaps even PM) yycflyguy - he knows how it works. Maybe ask LJDriver too.

Do NOT expect to get a work visa, although there is a chance it can be done, there'a an even better chance it can't be. I just came back to Canada, was on a NAFTA Visa but had to use my college diploma (scientific technician) to get it.

Family ties? Must be immediate. Marrying an American? I wouldn't go there.

If you decide you have money to throw away go for it! Maybe you'll be lucky and I wish you the best. But - again - like yyc said, it's not a rose garden.

Well maybe it was a sign from above but it turns out it will be a no-go for me anyways. This afternoon my lawyer called and told me the real deal.

The first requirement is to have a sponsoring company before even applying. Before this company can hire you, they must advertise the job for 3 weeks and not have any applicants of similar experience.

Second is a University Degree and an industry related specialization, such as a type rating.

Third is $3K - $5K USD.

With all this you would only receive a 6 month visa which would have a small chance of renewal unless you truely have something special to offer the USA

Anyways guys thanks for all the help, I appreciate it!

The only way for a pilot to get into the USA to work is to marry an American woman and get citizenship through her (and this process takes a lot of time too),

Flybabe,

Never realized that you were that much of a keener...

4hrstovegas wrote:Just keep lifting freight instead of using the company computer to quit. Big Brother is watching!

Ooof...someone's got their hand in the cookie jar...shame!

Sterlingthepilot wrote:Well maybe it was a sign from above but it turns out it will be a no-go for me anyways. This afternoon my lawyer called and told me the real deal.

The first requirement is to have a sponsoring company before even applying. Before this company can hire you, they must advertise the job for 3 weeks and not have any applicants of similar experience.

Second is a University Degree and an industry related specialization, such as a type rating.

Third is $3K - $5K USD.

With all this you would only receive a 6 month visa which would have a small chance of renewal unless you truely have something special to offer the USA

Anyways guys thanks for all the help, I appreciate it!

Hey! Sort of exactly what I said in my posts!

Maybe I can skip being an unlicensed pilot and just be an unlicensed immigration lawyer and make $4K per application.

J C -

Careful boy I might hurt ya lol.. remember I'm alot closer now LMAO

sterlingthepilot,

Your best chances would be to sign up for the "Green Card Lottery" which they hold once a year.

http://www.us-green-card-lottery.org/

Good luck!

LJD

LJDriver wrote:sterlingthepilot,

Your best chances would be to sign up for the "Green Card Lottery" which they hold once a year.

http://www.us-green-card-lottery.org/

Good luck!

LJD

Not if he's Canuckistani.

Canadians are not eligible for the lottery.

As a plain, ordinary, normal pilot, forget it.

Forget it.

Even guys who fly for companies like Bombardier who own such stuff as Lear Jet factories take a couple of years to get green cards. And even then, there is no guarantee.

If you have a Master's degree, are in the arts, are a doctor or an engineer or something they are short of, go for it. Movie star, rock star, film director, anaesthetist, you're in.

If you get a job offeras a pilot, you pass the screening for the Homeland whatsis, YOU HAVE A DEGREE in something useful, then they might give you a work permit. It took MONTHS, a lawyer and a ton of dosh for me to get a work permit, and it was only because we do so much demo work there that we were considered; and only as long as I work for my current employer. Quit, get fired, whatever, no permit anymore even with a job offer. You would have to return to Canada and re-apply!

You can fly an N-registered a/c anywhere else in the world, (as long as you have an FAA license)!

Darn near everyone in our office/company has tried for a US work permit, and pilots, even superior ones like myself can't get 'em.[/b]

My next-door neighbour is the president of a Canadian branch of a large multi-national company, and they have a FLEET of Falcons in the US, and even he cannot get me into the US to fly one of 'em (sob).

How bad do you want to get that green card/citizenship?
Join any branch of service. Go to one of a few places where there is "combat" and step on the ground, and abbracadabra, your a US citizen. You have to sign a 4-5 year enlistment, but thats a small price to pay depending how badly you want to work down here.

Of course I recomend the big green killing machine.

Ya, but I'm afraid of guns and loud noises. Somebody hold me.

nark wrote:How bad do you want to get that green card/citizenship?
Join any branch of service. Go to one of a few places where there is "combat" and step on the ground, and abbracadabra, your a US citizen. You have to sign a 4-5 year enlistment, but thats a small price to pay depending how badly you want to work down here.

Of course I recomend the big green killing machine.

Nark,

Is this what you did to become an American Patriot?

LJDriver wrote:sterlingthepilot,

Your best chances would be to sign up for the "Green Card Lottery" which they hold once a year.

http://www.us-green-card-lottery.org/

Good luck!

LJD

Be careful. I got sucked in by this website a couple years ago, payed my money to them for the green card lottery and found out later that Canadians weren't even allowed to apply for the green card lottery. Check out the actual US immigration website, get the real scoop there. Got my money back in the end at least.

Reviving an old thread here to clarify some information.

First of all DHQ, I'm not sure how you got suckered in and they took your money cause in the application process they would've determined that you were not eligible and stopped you right there.

Also, my second point, regarding if you're a Canadian, well if your PARENTS are not born in Canada than you ARE eligible for the Green Card Lottery program.

Read the site - if you are a Canadian citizen you are not eligible YOU ARE NOT ELIGIBLE for the lottery, and that is because they take tons of Canadians every year with skills they really want, like Celine Dion. Or heart surgeons. Never pilots (ok very rarely, and you need an endorsement like a Global Express cause they are rare still) unless you also have a degree.