Aussie Pilots Recruited for a US Airline ?

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bafanguy

Well-Known Member
Stumbled across this ad on an Aussie pilot union job website.

http://www.afap.org.au/Jobs/Latest-Jobs/AFAP-Pilot-Jobs-.asp

Unless I've misinterpreted/overlooked something, Australians are being recruited for fly for a US airline. Any idea who this is ?

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ATPL holders needed NOW for USA - For First Officer Opportunities

A fantastic opportunity is available to work as a First Officer on Regional Jet for a major USA Airline. In addition to building your Airline experience you will be able to enjoy living, exploring and flying around the USA in one of the worlds most sophisticated airline environments.

The Airline expects a minimum two year commitment from you and in return will pay for all your training including a Type Rating on the Regional Jet that is used by the Company, your return airfare, visa's and other associated costs of moving to the USA and the local award wage.

Applicants must be Australian citizens holding an ATPL & Command Instrument Rating and undergo a USA security check

To apply please email your CV including full details of your qualifications and experience to: usapilotrecruitment@iinet.net.au

Interviews for suitable candidates to be held during August
 
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bafanguy said:
The Airline expects a minimum two year commitment from you and in return will pay for all your training including a Type Rating on the Regional Jet that is used by the Company, your return airfare, visa's and other associated costs of moving to the USA and the local award wage.
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Sounds like a contract violation, assuming airline in question has a CBA.
 
I don't see it as a contract violation at all. Similar to a big signing bonus I would think just like other carriers such as Silver are offering ($12,000). Sounds like the airlines are trying to think out of the box to acquire properly qualified talent.
 
AFAIK, US companies have always been able to sponsor foreign nationals for employment here but only do it under serious deficits in specific categories. I think teachers and RNs, for example, have been recruited to some degree from overseas. Pilots ? That's a sea change. I can't recall that happening before. Maybe some of you can offer examples.

OK...link didn't work but you can find plenty of info on US sponsorship of foreign nationals.

I do remember an Australian regional (REX, I think) recruiting Saab340 captains from the USA a couple of years ago but can't remember details or numbers.
 
It appears that they're trying to use the E-3 visa, which is a special visa valid only for Australian workers. Other foreign worker visas (H-2B) are only valid for positions that require a bachelor's degree or higher, but it appears that this visa may simply require the recipient of the visa to have a degree.

Read all about it here: http://www.uscis.gov/working-united...-specialty-occupation-professionals-australia


EDIT: The E-3 visa is only valid for "specialty occupations" and the USCIS defines specialty occultation as "theoretical and practical application of a body of specialized knowledge along with at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. For example, architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, business specialties, accounting, law, theology, and the arts are specialty occupations."
 
The legal boilerplate surrounding visas, etc., isn't the interesting part of the story. In fact, it's a distraction.

The interesting part is that an American airline has formally turned to an overseas source of pilots.
 
bafanguy said:
The legal boilerplate surrounding visas, etc., isn't the interesting part of the story. In fact, it's a distraction.
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I disagree. It appears that the E-3 visa is the only visa that could possibly allow foreigners to fly RJs on a temporary basis, and the the E-3 visa is only valid for Australians. It answers the question of why they picked Australia and not India.

A brief background in the politics of foreign workers helps us understand the issue beyond a standpoint of "dey terk er jerbs."
 
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adk said:
I disagree. It appears that the E-3 visa is the only visa that could possibly allow foreigners to fly RJs on a temporary basis, and the the E-3 visa is only valid for Australians. It answers the question of why they picked Australia and not India.

A brief background in the politics of foreign workers helps us understand the issue beyond a standpoint of "dey terk er jerbs."
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If there is a shortage an the companies are not able to fill positions using us citizens then I think they are able to bring a foreigner in.
http://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/permanent-workers
 
I also wonder how much of a ploy this is by the regionals. Perhaps get enough people riled up, get ALPA involved, then the regional can go back and say "look we have enough qualified American CPL pilots with 750+ hours of TT; but because of the ATP rule, we have to give jobs to foreigners; but if we got some relief on the rule we could give these jobs to Americans".............
It's a win-win for the regionals if they are playing this game. If the regionals get no relief, plenty of qualified 1500+ hr Aussie pilots that are having a hard time getting on with a regional downunda and after two years of getting jet time in the States, it would make them more employable back home once hiring starts there....I have a feeling more regionals will start taking this approach. They need pilots; and the E3 visa is a way for them to go about this....And the regionals will never pay American pilots more to resolve the shortage. Regional pilots were making crap wages in the 80's, 90's and today.....Unfortunately, I doubt there will be little change in pay for pilots in FFD airlines; just because the way the FFD model is set up......
 
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SilkyD said:
I also wonder how much of a ploy this is by the regionals. Perhaps get enough people riled up, get ALPA involved, then the regional can go back and say "look we have enough qualified American CPL pilots with 750+ hours of TT; but because of the ATP rule, we have to give jobs to foreigners; but if we got some relief on the rule we could give these jobs to Americans".............
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It'll never work. Every legislator that voted to change the rule would lose their seat in the election following the crash of a regional airliner with a crew that was hired with less than the current requirements.
 
So American pilots leave the US and fly overseas for lavish benefits and pay but somehow there are foreign pilots who want to come to America and fly for poverty wages? Wouldn't the Australians be even smarter if they flew for foreign (to them) airlines but just not in the US?

And how do we even know this is for real anyway? Recruiters do this kind of stuff all the time, they collect resumes. Once this recruiter gets enough people interested, then he might contact a regional airline and say 'hey I have 50 people from Australia interested in your airline, can you make this happen?'

For all we know this company/person is just collecting resumes and no US airline is involved (yet).
 
The misnomer is that Asia and the Middle East are hurting for pilots. They are hurting; but hurting for experienced pilots...

American, Australian (or any other nationality for that matter) pilots working in the sandbox or Asia are usually quite experienced who have thousands of hours of time on type before they got there. Take a look at the requirements for Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, flyDubai etc.....

The 1500 hour Aus guys have no chance of getting jobs in the sand pit or China without 320, 737 time. I know quite a few of these 1500 hour Aus guys and they have been working in the Top End, outback of Queensland, Western Australia, etc flying 206's, 210's etc....Those are the 1500 hour guys I am referring to; and those are the guys that add is targeting. The experienced Aus guys with time on type do end up going to Cathay, Singapore, Emirates, etc...
 
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propsync said:
So American pilots leave the US and fly overseas for lavish benefits and pay but somehow there are foreign pilots who want to come to America and fly for poverty wages? Wouldn't the Australians be even smarter if they flew for foreign (to them) airlines but just not in the US?

And how do we even know this is for real anyway? Recruiters do this kind of stuff all the time, they collect resumes. Once this recruiter gets enough people interested, then he might contact a regional airline and say 'hey I have 50 people from Australia interested in your airline, can you make this happen?'

For all we know this company/person is just collecting resumes and no US airline is involved (yet).
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What you fail to see is the fact that anywhere else in the World outside of the United Stated the General Aviation is non existent.
In Sweden you have to pay 800USD an hour to fly a Duschess. The cost to get 1500 hours is huge, so MPL schemes are big over here and Major Airlines will hire 200 hours pilots.
 
SilkyD said:
The 1500 hour Aus guys have no chance of getting jobs in the sand pit or China without 320, 737 time. I know quite a few of these 1500 hour Aus guys and they have been working in the Top End, outback of Queensland, Western Australia, etc flying 206's, 210's etc....Those are the 1500 hour guys I am referring to; and those are the guys that add is targeting. .
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Even if the job offer is legit and the visa requirements can be worked out, it's still a bandaid on an artery.

There can't possibly be enough 1500-3000 TT guys in Oz to meet regional demand over the next few years. This is a stalling tactic that will only delay the inevitable.
 
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