International Medical Certificates

CowboyJake

CowboyJake

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Besides the criminal issues of getting into a foreign country following a DUI, does anyone know of countries that are much more lenient on the medical certification around unfortunate alcohol events?
 
I'm probably going to regret this question, which is "of what use is a foreign medical?", because a foreign pilot's license wouldn't have much value to a pilot in the US.

But...guessing you might be going down the road of moving to a country and flying there. If you do that, you might be able to convert your US license to the foreign license, and then just fly. No idea if that would work, but you'd likely need a visa or citizenship in that country, and to speak the language. Not sure if it's possible for a non-citizen to get a Mexican pilot's license, for example, and by that I mean a native born Mexican citizen. People complain a lot about US immigration requirements, but my understanding is that we have a pretty welcoming system compared to others.
 
You would have to get a work visa first.

Then find out if they will give you a local pilot certificate based on your US one. You have have a certificate that matches the country of registration of the plane.

Then meet their medical requirements.

Then find a job. Although you may need the job to get the work visa.
 
Just wondering, and I don’t want to know, but unfortunate alcohol events are overcome quite frequently. I would think unless the event involved aircraft you should be able to work through whatever the issue may be. Reading here it appears to not be an easy road but moving to Australia, getting a visa, getting a job, then getting a license will take a minute or two as well. Just thinking. Whatever your situation good luck.
 
CowboyJake said:
I thought of maybe spraying in Australia or something during the winter.
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Australia is not an easy place to get work authorization for. And despite their history, a criminal record also disqualifies you for even tourist admission at times.
 
flyingron said:
Australia is not an easy place to get work authorization for.
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Way back in 1983 the adventurist in me wanted to go work in Australia as a truck driver across the outback. I learned that first I needed a company, Australian or American, to sponsor me for a work visa. To qualify for a work visa I needed a job first. To get a job in Australia I needed a work visa. Ad nauseam

Needless to say, I did not got to Australia. Remember this was 40 years ago so things may have changed.



I was also interested in going to Argentina, but they were more interested in what guns I could bring and how much money I would bring.
 
Zeldman said:
Way back in 1983 the adventurist in me wanted to go work in Australia as a truck driver across the outback. I learned that first I needed a company, Australian or American, to sponsor me for a work visa. To qualify for a work visa I needed a job first. To get a job in Australia I needed a work visa. Ad nauseam

Needless to say, I did not got to Australia. Remember this was 40 years ago so things may have changed.



I was also interested in going to Argentina, but they were more interested in what guns I could bring and how much money I would bring.
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It's the same here, but companies that hire internationally work with you to get the visa. Companies that are just looking to hire anyone and aren't interested in jumping through hoops just to get YOU, aren't going to work out. So yeah, not as simple as heading over there and then picking up the want ads.
 
Lindberg said:
but companies that hire internationally work with you to get the visa.
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They do now, thank goodness. My wife is working to bring 2 of her nieces to the US. Both are nurses. So far every hospital she has talked to will work with them on the visa. The biggest problem so far is deciding which hospital will be the best choice.

Way back then the Australian Embassy basically told me they can't help me with a visa unless I had a job, and the companies in Australia would not talk to me until I had the work visa. Jobs were scarce in Australia at the time just like in the US.

Oh well, it all worked out in the long run.
 
Zeldman said:
They do now, thank goodness. My wife is working to bring 2 of her nieces to the US. Both are nurses. So far every hospital she has talked to will work with them on the visa. The biggest problem so far is deciding which hospital will be the best choice.

Way back then the Australian Embassy basically told me they can't help me with a visa unless I had a job, and the companies in Australia would not talk to me until I had the work visa. Jobs were scarce in Australia at the time just like in the US.

Oh well, it all worked out in the long run.
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It always depends on the job market. When local employees are easy to find, no one wants to hassle with anyone needing sponsorship.
 
CowboyJake said:
I thought of maybe spraying in Australia or something during the winter.
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Aussies? heh, they're rushing here to get E3 visas. That should tell you how inverted the proposition of a US citizen trying to recoup a living by flying down under is. As others have suggested in the thread already, most countries are exceedingly nationalistic/protectionist of work access. We on the other hand, give our jobs away to the lowest bidder. If it weren't for the Jones act, airline work would be carnival cruise ship deck hand money, and this forum would be filled with a lot less "pro" pilots.
 
flyingron said:
And despite their history, a criminal record also disqualifies you for even tourist admission at times.
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OLD JOKE

British tourist is trying to clear customs to enter Australia. Agent asks, "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" Brit replies, "Oh, do you still require that for entry?"
 
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Pinecone said:
Then find out if they will give you a local pilot certificate based on your US one. You have have a certificate that matches the country of registration of the plane.

Then meet their medical requirements.
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I don’t know how that works for other countries, but the US will only allow Private Pilot privileges for a certificate based on a foreign, and your foreign certificate still has to be valid to exercise those privileges. I’m not entirely sure, but I think the medical is still the non-US one for those privileges.
 
Private pilots can go to Australia and fly on a US certificate (pilot and medical) in one of two ways. I just got a letter of authorization because it was trivial to get by mail. You can also get an Australian certificate based on your US one much like the reverse happens.

THe problem is that unless you are already a certificated commercial pilot there's zero chance that they're going to let you move there to train there or work. Australia is again, as I said, one of the tougher places to get a cold employment authorization. Now if you were already a commercial pilot, there are opportunities there as they have a number of programs that apply to pilots.
 
flyingron said:
Private pilots can go to Australia and fly on a US certificate (pilot and medical) in one of two ways. I just got a letter of authorization because it was trivial to get by mail. You can also get an Australian certificate based on your US one much like the reverse happens.

THe problem is that unless you are already a certificated commercial pilot there's zero chance that they're going to let you move there to train there or work. Australia is again, as I said, one of the tougher places to get a cold employment authorization. Now if you were already a commercial pilot, there are opportunities there as they have a number of programs that apply to pilots.
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The guy ag sprays, he's already a CPL. Even if he were ATP, it's still moot wrt Australia as long as the economic environment is such that they are actively seeking, and we are actively taking, Aussie E3s. As opposed to them staying back home with a much better social safety net already paid for in the first place. The reciprocal however is not extended to US pilots in the least, though Australia is not the only one guilty of that dynamic (oh European Union, looking at you....).

The cheapest way for the OP to retain flying employability is to stay in the US and bohica through the HIMS kabuki theater. Otherwise it's back to the oil rig/ranch deckhand for homeboi.
 
hindsight2020 said:
The cheapest way for the OP to retain flying employability is to stay in the US and bohica through the HIMS kabuki theater. Otherwise it's back to the oil rig/ranch deckhand for homeboi.
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Oh, I dunno. There may be other options. If he can fly rotorwing, I think the Taliban in Afghanistan have some aircraft without pilots.
 
Actually, I don't mean the following as a joke - if you're already comfortable with flying an aircraft 20' off the ground, maybe you could volunteer to fly in Ukraine. Not as combat, but as cargo. No idea if they need anybody to do that. But better people than you or I did it in CBI theater or helping out the British before the US was officially in WW2.
 
Thanks for the better advice this time around as opposed to my last thread. I'm 25 with no wife or kids so I just figured I'm young enough to leave the country but way to young to enter lifetime monitoring and other FAA bs. And no lifetime monitoring doesn't simply mean abstinense for all of you who have no idea what HIMS is.
 
When I did my ASES many years ago, another student was a Aussie. He was over here for all his ratings. It was about 1/3 the price to do them here than in Australia.

I am not sure what he needed to do to get an Aussie certificate, but even so, it was a lot cheaper than doing there.
 
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