Western Europe

Sebbles

Sebbles

Well-Known Member
My dad is a captain over at Kalitta and he goes in and out of Liege Belgium. One night he started talking with this hotel worker and showing her pictures, and one of me came up. I got an email from her a few days later. We started corresponding, and I went and visited her after chatting everyday (about 2 months) for several hours. We hit it off, but she's near Brussels, and I'm in Raleigh. I once had dual citizenship with Germany, until I joined the military over here. I'm an unemployed pilot (900tt/100 multi with CFI/CFII/MEI) and I'd like to pursue something with her, but she can't move here. Which brings me to my question. Is there any sort of aviation work I can get into over there? It's too early to start discussing Marriage, so I'm not considering that. I'd like to be near her and still say in aviation. Suggestions?
 
Sham marriage. It's the only way. Lucrative too. I feel for you since I've been in a similar boat, but as the mexicans say, "Amor de lejos es para pendejos."
 
Pachong said:
Sham marriage. It's the only way. Lucrative too. I feel for you since I've been in a similar boat, but as the mexicans say, "Amor de lejos es para pendejos."
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Touché.
 
No no no dont get married. It's Europe and more progressive than that. If Belgium is anything like Sweden, it is possible for her as a citizen to sponsor you for a work permit. I sponsored my girlfriend for a Swedish work permit ('cus I'm the citizen) and we paid 80 bucks, filled out some paperwork, and interviewed at the consulate (here in the US). A few weeks later we got FedEx'd her passport with a 2 year residence/work permit!

SO that will cover your right to work over there. You could probably get some admin/ground job with an airline without too much trouble, but if you want to fly that's a whole other task. You can fly any N-numbered plane that's over there but that really limits your job search.

If you're interested in converting to JAA (once you get the work permit), check this out:

http://forums.jetcareers.com/expatriate-aviation/118790-faa-jaa-conversion.html

Good luck!
 
You don't need a sham marriage in may countries in Western Europe. Being someone's "domestic partner" is sufficient. In most countries, that will get you a residence permit so long as you are living together. A work permit may be more difficult, but it is not impossible.

If you are an American and have money, it ain't that bad. (I had Dutch residency within a few months)
 
Sebbles, you have a cool dad.

Anyhow, I feel your pain. I met a European girl several years ago and we visited each other as much as we could (te plane tickets got expensive as you can imagine), but after about a year and a couple months, we got married.

The problem is that without getting married, you moving out there or her moving out to the US is going to be very difficult. Do you live near an amusement park or ski resort? Those places have traditionally sponsored foreign work visas. Is there a university near her? You could apply and study there. Like I said, it will be difficult. Is there any chance you could get your German citizenship back?

Let's say that you guys get married and you move to Belgium. Then you have to do the JAA conversion, which I did recently. If you don't have 500hrs on a big multicrew aircraft, the process can take awhile and cost quite a bit, but it is doable.

Was it worth it for me??? .... YES. I love living in western Europe, I love my wife, and we have two kids now. It was worth all the struggles we went through.

Good luck

Edit: if you think that there is a a chance that you can get over to Europe, and since you are unemployed, you could start looking into getting the written exams for the JAA conversion out of the way. That is the most time consuming part.
 
It really depends on the country. In some is really easy to get a temp permit. Even if you get your JAA most airlines will require you to be an EU citizen, and some even have restrictions to some of the EU citizens. The other biggest problem I see is the language, english will not be enough, but you should know german, right?

As somebody mentioned there are N registered airplanes, but it`s really hard to find the connections to get hired, since most of this jobs are not advertised. There are several FAA flight schools in Europe, if you want more infos send me and email alex.swisspilot@gmail.com

I know how it feels, when I moved back to Europe from the US my girlfriend, American was able to get a permit in France and even if her Dad was working in the Aviation industry over there she was not able to get hired and we have been doing the LDR for a while, it`s especially hard now that I live in the South Pafic.

The biggest issue I see is that you will be only able to work in the country that will give you the residency, getting an aviation job in Europe means relocation 99% of the time.
 
A residency permit does not necessary allows you to work, and for many aviation jobs you can`t be on a temporary one.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
You don't need a sham marriage in may countries in Western Europe. Being someone's "domestic partner" is sufficient. In most countries, that will get you a residence permit so long as you are living together. A work permit may be more difficult, but it is not impossible.

If you are an American and have money, it ain't that bad. (I had Dutch residency within a few months)
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You have to be able to prove you lived together before moving to Europe, like in the States. In some countries they will require a 2 years of "de facto relationship" which is a legally recognized relationship.
 
swisspilot said:
As somebody mentioned there are N registered airplanes, but it`s really hard to find the connections to get hired, since most of this jobs are not advertised. There are several FAA flight schools in Europe, if you want more infos send me and email alex.swisspilot@gmail.com
Click to expand...

Another problem with this is that when EASA fully kicks in next April, there will be a new rule/law requiring any non-EASA registered aircraft based in an EASA member state (so a N-register aircraft for example) will have to be flown by pilots holding a JAA/EASA License, so you would have to do a conversion anyway.

When I was doing my conversion, there were several French pilots who taught at an all FAA school in France that were also going trough the conversion for this very reason.
 
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