I'm French and I'll come to USA

Getting work and keeping costs down will be the biggest hurdle after paperwork.
Something to consider, just outside of large metro areas old beat up 172 will often rent around 120-130 an hour. Many rural locarions or states like Texas, Arizona and Florida you can rent for 110 an hour. But the difference is the base unskilled labor salary is around 7.50 an hour versus the 11+ you see in the larger coastal cities.

For those which argue that the cost of living is higher, it is only if you choose to live that way. Sublet a single room instead of a whole large apartment.... Eat in versus eat out.

The higher base salary may allow you spin off more cash for flying.

I would also re-look at the big flying schools. They may arrange scholarships and or financing to help. And many of them have a line into some airlines.

Glad you are asking questions. Good luck.

Tim

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Tapatalk
 
tspear said:
Getting work and keeping costs down will be the biggest hurdle after paperwork.
Something to consider, just outside of large metro areas old beat up 172 will often rent around 120-130 an hour. Many rural locarions or states like Texas, Arizona and Florida you can rent for 110 an hour. But the difference is the base unskilled labor salary is around 7.50 an hour versus the 11+ you see in the larger coastal cities.

For those which argue that the cost of living is higher, it is only if you choose to live that way. Sublet a single room instead of a whole large apartment.... Eat in versus eat out.

The higher base salary may allow you spin off more cash for flying.

I would also re-look at the big flying schools. They may arrange scholarships and or financing to help. And many of them have a line into some airlines.

Glad you are asking questions. Good luck.

Tim

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Tapatalk
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Yes, that's what I think.

I can work in San Francisco as barman ( 13$ hour ), and to make 2k5 or 3k per month with tips for 30h per week, moreover I found a cheap flight school ( Oakland Flyers ) even if I have to get testimonials about the quality of instruction, but living in California ( in the east of the Bay ) is expensive : remember I have to economize in order to fly often and to finish training quickly. I can also work in Florida with $8.10/h wage, and make 2k or 2k5 pcm, but life is cheaper in Florida than in SF Bay. Schools offer the same prices ( 23k$ excluding Time Building for Flying Academy in Miami and L.A and 14k$ excl. Time Building for Oakland Flyers in ... Oakland ).

What should I choose ??
 
I'd say cost-of-living and job-market are the two most important things to look for on arrival, with cost/availability of flight training in the area as a close second. Heck, if I were that age with $15k in my pocket, I'd find a minimum wage job and the cheapest studio apartment I could find and use as much of the $15k toward flying as possible. Get the IR, Commercial and the CFI. With a little recreational flying mixed in, you will probably have enough hours to get a CFI job.
 
Rykymus said:
I'd say cost-of-living and job-market are the two most important things to look for on arrival, with cost/availability of flight training in the area as a close second. Heck, if I were that age with $15k in my pocket, I'd find a minimum wage job and the cheapest studio apartment I could find and use as much of the $15k toward flying as possible. Get the IR, Commercial and the CFI. With a little recreational flying mixed in, you will probably have enough hours to get a CFI job.
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The problem is that most rental agents won't even consider him since he will have no credit history.
He might have to spend 3-4 month rent on a deposit alone.
 
DZ_Power said:
Yes, that's what I think.

I can work in San Francisco as barman ( 13$ hour ), and to make 2k5 or 3k per month with tips for 30h per week, moreover I found a cheap flight school ( Oakland Flyers ) even if I have to get testimonials about the quality of instruction, but living in California ( in the east of the Bay ) is expensive : remember I have to economize in order to fly often and to finish training quickly. I can also work in Florida with $8.10/h wage, and make 2k or 2k5 pcm, but life is cheaper in Florida than in SF Bay. Schools offer the same prices ( 23k$ excluding Time Building for Flying Academy in Miami and L.A and 14k$ excl. Time Building for Oakland Flyers in ... Oakland ).

What should I choose ??
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The San Francisco bay area has one of the highest cost-of-living in the U.S.

Housing, food, entertainment, gasoline, taxes, you name it. I'm thinking Arizona would be a better fit for your financial situation.
 
Rykymus said:
I'd say cost-of-living and job-market are the two most important things to look for on arrival, with cost/availability of flight training in the area as a close second. Heck, if I were that age with $15k in my pocket, I'd find a minimum wage job and the cheapest studio apartment I could find and use as much of the $15k toward flying as possible. Get the IR, Commercial and the CFI. With a little recreational flying mixed in, you will probably have enough hours to get a CFI job.
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You don't need a guaranteed job/sponsor/significant assets to (legally) immigrate here?
 
mtuomi said:
The problem is that most rental agents won't even consider him since he will have no credit history.
He might have to spend 3-4 month rent on a deposit alone.
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I've never had a credit history when I have rented apartments and I've never had to pay more than 1 months rent as a deposit in various states. OP, I'd look into getting a secured credit card to build up a credit history. Just make sure it's from a bank that reports to a credit reporting agency.

paflyer said:
You don't need a guaranteed job/sponsor/significant assets to (legally) immigrate here?
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If you have a green card that's all you need. You need some of those things to get certain kinds of green card - for instance, you need a sponsoring employer to get an employment based green card. The OP already has a green card from the DV lottery so he's good to go. There might be a requirement for having a certain amount of cash but he doesn't need the other things.
 
DZ_Power said:
Is there anybody here who flies in Part 121 airlines to give some flashbacks ??
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I can speak for my friend who Is Polish (so am I) and who like you wanted to come to the US for complete pilot training. He is now employed as a copilot with some European airline and occupies right seat on a 737 - not bad at all. His job prospects were much better in Europe at the time.

But about his flight training - when he started the process in 2010 he realized there were only a few flight schools in the US who were allowed to train foreigners. He picked a flight school in Hillsboro, Oregon (I recall he was also looking into some school in Florida and consulting with me about cost of living and other items). There were quite a few Chinese students in Hillsboro and when he finally ended up being a CFI there he had a lot of stories about teaching Chinese student to fly (one of those students did an off-airport landing because he got lost and approached the farmer to ask for directions!!). Like you he already had his PPL from Poland but was convinced he should start with FAA PPL. Wanting to be a well-rounded pilot he even took a complete seal-plane training in Alaska. His visa allowed him to work as CFI in the US for (if I recall) 2 years so eventually he returned to Poland and is now employed with some Czech-based low-cost airline whose name I forgot. He compiled an incredible blog of his day-by-day stay in the US, including all costs and meticulous record of his flying but unfortunately it is all in Polish. But he came with enough monies not to worry about having to work to finance his training.
 
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injb said:
I've never had a credit history when I have rented apartments and I've never had to pay more than 1 months rent as a deposit in various states. OP, I'd look into getting a secured credit card to build up a credit history. Just make sure it's from a bank that reports to a credit reporting agency.



If you have a green card that's all you need. You need some of those things to get certain kinds of green card - for instance, you need a sponsoring employer to get an employment based green card. The OP already has a green card from the DV lottery so he's good to go. There might be a requirement for having a certain amount of cash but he doesn't need the other things.
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DV lottery has the same "no public charge" requirement as other visa categories. DV lottery don't need the 125% of poverty limit as far as I know, the "rough" rule of thumb has been around $10k cash in hand, based on third party anecdotal evidence.
 
injb said:
I've never had a credit history when I have rented apartments and I've never had to pay more than 1 months rent as a deposit in various states. OP, I'd look into getting a secured credit card to build up a credit history. Just make sure it's from a bank that reports to a credit reporting agency.



If you have a green card that's all you need. You need some of those things to get certain kinds of green card - for instance, you need a sponsoring employer to get an employment based green card. The OP already has a green card from the DV lottery so he's good to go. There might be a requirement for having a certain amount of cash but he doesn't need the other things.
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Thx, I know Green Card is the only document I need to live and to work in the US. To become pilot I also need medical certificate and TSA approval
 
olasek said:
I can speak for my friend who Is Polish (so am I) and who like you wanted to come to the US for complete pilot training. He is now employed as a copilot with some European airline and occupies right seat on a 737 - not bad at all. His job prospects were much better in Europe at the time.

But about his flight training - when he started the process in 2010 he realized there were only a few flight schools in the US who were allowed to train foreigners. He picked a flight school in Hillsboro, Oregon (I recall he was also looking into some school in Florida and consulting with me about cost of living and other items). There were quite a few Chinese students in Hillsboro and when he finally ended up being a CFI there he had a lot of stories about teaching Chinese student to fly (one of those students did an off-airport landing because he got lost and approached the farmer to ask for directions!!). Like you he already had his PPL from Poland but was convinced he should start with FAA PPL. Wanting to be a well-rounded pilot he even took a complete seal-plane training in Alaska. His visa allowed him to work as CFI in the US for (if I recall) 2 years so eventually he returned to Poland and is now employed with some Czech-based low-cost airline whose name I forgot. He compiled an incredible blog of his day-by-day stay in the US, including all costs and meticulous record of his flying but unfortunately it is all in Polish. But he came with enough monies not to worry about having to work to finance his training.
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I talk online with a lot of French pilots/students, and I can conclude with testimonials : USA > Europe. The training is more expensive, the Flight Instruction is nor paid ( or less than 900€ per month ), avgas is more expensive, QT is paid by pilots, so much theory, ect. I will try to spend ~4 months with full-time instruction, before working Part 135 ( Ameriflight for example ).
 
Nothing beats the weather in California (in my experience) but cost of living here is really high. Renting a 1bedroom in our building (zip 90405) starts at $2,500 per month. They charge you first and last month. If you have no credit, they may ask for another extra month of deposit :eek: Renting/sharing a 2bedroom in the Valley (San Fernando that is) you may find something sub $1000/month with a roommate.
Flying isn't cheap either. My CFI charged me $90/h at Santa Monica airport, other CFI's at same school charged $100 or $120/h. The C-172 is $160-$174/h.
Take a short drive to Van Nuys airport (in the Valley) and you can find a CFI for $70/h and a plane for $155. Friend is flying out of Long Beach. Her CFI is $50/h, C172 is $100!
Still not as cheap as AZ or other locations, but flying along the coast near busy class B will prepare you for anything.
Santa Monica flight school is looking for CFIs, they offer $50/h to start with.
 
I have flown low enough in Alaska at times to smell the seals.....
 
Don't over think anything...

Just bring some of those hot french women, some really good wine, and call us when you get here.
We'll figure it out.

That way, no matter what happens, at least you'll be acting like an airline pilot.
 
There's a 141 school about 5 miles from my house. It's on the s/w side of KC, so you get a few things: reasonably low cost of living, wx that WILL change a lot so you will get a wide variety of weather conditions to learn in, relatively uncluttered airspace, and a pretty good variety of job options. Cost of the training at that school = ??? (Note: I just went on their website and didn't find much info on their 141 program. I can check around.)
 
Timbeck2 said:
Why is everyone trying to pawn him off in Arizona? He can't speak Mandarin.



did I say that out loud? :confused:
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I didn't realize that Arizona had that big of a Chinese population. Has there been a recent influx? I figured Spanish would be the dominant language other than English there.
 
All ya gotta do is fly towards Phoenix and the radio is filled with the sounds of the orient.
 
Hmm, I just did some research and AZ does have a very high growth rate in their Asian population. I did not know that. The percentage of the overall population that is Asian is still relatively small though.
 
thats-racist.jpg
 
Stupid question maybe, but can he join the us military? I thought that you can as a foreign national and get a fast track to US citizenship. Then onto GI bill.
 
mscard88 said:
I don't know, obviously I never have read the rules, it's just the way @SkyDog58 rolls.
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Yeah, I was just poking fun at him, although my kids tell me it's racist to say Orient or Oriental, so I drove by the restaurant near us that has a big sign that says Oriental food. I'm constantly baffled.
 
Were you the same guy whose kids think that the Chinese restaurant scene in A Christmas Story is racist?

Don't make me break out the definition again. :sosp:
 
There is a building not far from me that has a sign that says, "Chinese Massage". So now I am baffled as well. I didn't know massages from one place were different than from another place....
 
I’m asian from the waist down.
 
Zeldman said:
There is a building not far from me that has a sign that says, "Chinese Massage". So now I am baffled as well. I didn't know massages from one place were different than from another place....
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Really? In Canada I think they call it a rub and a tug...
 
I don't see how anything I wrote could be considered racist. The only reason I got involved in the conversation was Tim's mention of the prevalence of Mandarin in the Phoenix area. I had just never heard Arizona associated with a high concentration of Chinese or other Asians.

As to the term oriental, the modern standard is that you can refer to objects as oriental (oriental rugs, oriental food, etc.) but not people. I don't think it is necessarily racist though if someone does use it. Unless of course they do it purposely in order to inflame passions.

I hope this answers any questions you occidental mofos may have.
 
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