USA vs Canadian Airline Career

[radio]

Without a relative or spouse in the US, you would have very slim chances of getting a job in the US.

Even the Australians now are not getting job with their E3 visa and some face problems for the 2 years renewal, because their employer has to prove that there's a need for that individual and they couldn't find a candidate in the current market.

TN visa is out of the question, big players like ALPA are lobbying to not include pilot in the list of TN professions. It just a question of protecting their interest and not open the flood gates for pilots from Canada or Mexico come in. The last few years have seen a crazy increase in wages mainly drive by the late pilot shortage, I don't think any pilots wants to go back to the old wages.

[172ReliefPilot]

Without a relative or spouse in the US, you would have very slim chances of getting a job in the US.

Even the Australians now are not getting job with their E3 visa and some face problems for the 2 years renewal, because their employer has to prove that there's a need for that individual and they couldn't find a candidate in the current market.

TN visa is out of the question, big players like ALPA are lobbying to not include pilot in the list of TN professions. It just a question of protecting their interest and not open the flood gates for pilots from Canada or Mexico come in. The last few years have seen a crazy increase in wages mainly drive by the late pilot shortage, I don't think any pilots wants to go back to the old wages.

Luckily, my mums side of the family is is half american/canadian. My uncle still holds sole US citizen ship since he was born in Detroit. My mum never opted to get her dual citizenship, but i dont know if it would even trickle down to me. Another win is that my gf is american and well, we plan on taking he next step of dun dun dun.... marriage... whenever things blow over. Things arent for certain, but that will definitely be a big help in trying to obtain a green card.

Also, I noticed that to convert your ATPL to an ATP, you have to take a certified american ATP course, however ATP holders can convert by simply writing our exam...whats the deal with that lol? anywho, just an investment and loophole.

[JBI]

Also, I noticed that to convert your ATPL to an ATP, you have to take a certified american ATP course, however ATP holders can convert by simply writing our exam...whats the deal with that lol? anywho, just an investment and loophole.

This is as a result of the Colgan Air Accident and the follow-up legislation. When times were good (i.e. 6 months ago), most regionals would provide that course.

I was in a similar situation a few years ago. Wife and I are both Canadian but she was transferred to NYC for work under an L1A Visa. As her spouse, I did acquire the right to work in the US, but only when she had that right as well. So if she quit or got let go from her job, or our marriage ended, or Trump decided to revoke visas, I would have been SOL. Not gonna lie, with Trump there was always the worry that he would have a midnight twitter temper tantrum and we would have had issues. His administration did order a change to review all visa applications with a more critical eye (essentially looking for reasons to deny).

We LOVED our time in New York City, but something else to consider - if/when airlines start hiring again, a significant number of the junior bases for airlines are in the expensive cities like NYC. New York is NOT a cheap place to live be it rent, taxes or expenses. On top of that, while yes, US salaries are higher than Canadian, generally speaking, a much higher percentage gets deducted for health insurance AND you still need to budget for your co-pay and emergency expenses. I went through a minor health issue and even though my wife had pretty good insurance, it still cost me over $4000 in medical costs for doctor's visits, prescriptions and procedures.

For us personally, we knew that we wanted to come back to Canada. It is home and we wanted to be close to family as we start our family. So I decided to simply stick with working in Canada and commuting while in the US and now, happily, live a 20 minute drive to my base. If we were set on staying in the US, I probably would have pursued that route.

[ayseven]

I lived in California for a while once, got accepted for a Green Card, and my other half was offered work in LA, but we decided not to stay. The grass looks greener on the other side of the border, but it an be a minefield down there. BTW, there are very cheap places to live one you get out of big cities - on the other hand, anywhere NEAR San Francisco or NYC is pricey. The US is generally unstable, and basically why we rejected living there permanently. Converting your license is the easy part.