How to do it?
Foreign pilots can convert their pilot’s license to an FAA Private Pilot Certificate. This process is very easy and Seagull Aviation Services Inc. can support you in this process.
The FAA provides for foreign pilots to obtain a United States Private Pilot Certificate issued on the basis of the privileges and limitations of a foreign pilot’s license. For this, the foreign license must be valid and current, otherwise the verification letter will not be issued by the FAA. Another very important point, the applicant pilot must be PIC or Captain in the Category, Class and Type in the ratings that wishes to exercise their privileges.
The request will be made through the IACRA system. The participant to have a user with the website www.iacra.faa.gov, enter their personal data, select some security questions and answers and that’s it, follow the next steps
1. Once you have your username, enter the system as Applicant.
2. In the APPLICANT – CONSOLE, you must click on START NEW APPLICATION.
3. Select the APPLICATION TYPE in the PILOT option.
4. Select the PRIVATE PILOT option.
5. Select the FOREIGN-BASED option and then click on CFR 61 and then on ORIGINAL. If you are a Private or Commercial Pilot you must apply for 14 CFR 61.75, if you are a Commercial Pilot with Instrument Flight privileges and more than 1,500 flight hours or an Airline Transport Pilot you can apply for the ATP Certificate, then you must check 14 CFR 61.153 (d)(3).
6. Go to the bottom of the list of options and click on START APPLICATION.
7. Surely you will have to update or enter new personal data.
8. Have at hand, physically and digitally, your License and your Foreign Medical Certificate if it is valid, you must upload to the system in the section called UPLOAD DOCUMENTS.
9. Know your Category (Airplane or Rotary Wing), your Class (Single-engine or Multi-engine) and the Type of Aircraft, if applicable. It must be equal to what you have in the Foreign License so that you can exercise the privileges of Private Pilot on these equipment to fly.
10. Verify and submit your application, print the paper or PDF documents for support.
11. Carry out the procedures with the aeronautical authority of your country so that they respond to the request that the FAA will make.
12. Once the authority of your country responds, you will have an answer in the IACRA system, where you can download and print your VERIFICATION LETTER with all the attached documents. Be sure to print all the pages of your verification.
13. Next, you will simply present your Verification Letter, pilot’s license, medical certificate, and your passport to a Designated Pilot Examiner DPE, who after an interview in English will grant and issue you a Temporary Certificate of Pilot Certificate United States Private based on the limitations and privileges of your Foreign License, PRIVATE PILOT BASED ON FOREIGN LICENSE. Your Permanent Certificate will arrive in the mail about 5 to 6 weeks later at the address in the United States that you entered in the IACRA personal data.
You do not have to wait for the permanent certificate to start flying. The Temporary Certificate is as valid as the permanent certificate and is valid for 120 continuous days.
If you want us to take care of the process, contact us and send us a copy of your valid passport, US visa, medical certificate and foreign pilot’s license.