This is the exact response I got from the flight school a few months ago when I asked whether an M1 visa was required to train with them:
"We are a part 61 school meaning we do accelerated flight training which takes only a fraction of the normal time a part 141 school requires to attain the same ratings / certificates. The M-1 visa is required for long periods of time like 3 to 12 months or longer and the government wants to ensure the client can support themselves while here training. Part 61 schools do not have then ability nor need for clients to obtain an M-1 visa. You will be here less than 3 weeks and back home again. Part 61 clients utilize the Visa Waiver Program"
I was quite happy with them, so can pass on the details if you wish. I was there for a bit over 2 weeks - no days off but I was doing both PPL conversion and IR. The view I took was that I was on vacation, and if chose to spend part of it doing some flying training that didn't in any way stop it being vacation. Doing just a PPL conversion, you would be there for a much shorter period and I think this approach would be even more appropriate. Although I am no visa lawyer, I believe the important bit is that it's PPL training. Since you would gain no commercial privileges from the training, no one can argue that you are furthering your business/profession by doing so.
I agree with Peter that the DPE cannot do the training. However, I found that the CFI selects the examiner for your checkride, typically uses only two or three individuals and knew their likes/dislikes very well, which obviously helps with the preparation. If you hire the school aircraft for your few hours 'filling the gaps', and then use it for the checkride too, you'll be getting currency on the aircraft, the hours needed for the CFI's endorsement and, probably, an insight into the way the examiner thinks, all at the same time.
"We are a part 61 school meaning we do accelerated flight training which takes only a fraction of the normal time a part 141 school requires to attain the same ratings / certificates. The M-1 visa is required for long periods of time like 3 to 12 months or longer and the government wants to ensure the client can support themselves while here training. Part 61 schools do not have then ability nor need for clients to obtain an M-1 visa. You will be here less than 3 weeks and back home again. Part 61 clients utilize the Visa Waiver Program"
Sounds fishy to me. Going to the US specifically ("primary purpose") to enroll in such an intensive flying program would require an M-1 visa in my view. The VWP is only for short-term pleasure or business visits.
It may well be that the intention of the M-1 visa is for studies that take longer than three months, and/or lead to a professional certificate/diploma, but AFAIK this is not written anywhere in the regulations. So you'd have a lot of work convincing the friendly immigration officer that your interpretation is correct.
I went to the US for an intensive PPL training program (three weeks, from zero to PPL) and I had to get an M-1 visa. (And as this was a part-141 school with SEVIS approval, they could help me getting one.)
It sounds to me like this part-61 school simply wants part of the action. Since they can't do it legally (not being part-141 and thus not SEVIS approved), they walk on just the wrong side of the fine line and hope they don't get caught.
(Oh, and the "fraction of a time" stuff is bull. There are several part-141 schools that can get you a PPL in three weeks.)
On fingerprinting, Farnborough are a pain to do it with as they have few slots. There is a very nice lady who fingerprints in a pub in Bedford (owned by her parents in law). She was very flexible and helpful. Farnborough and Oxford both said it would be weeks before they could do it. When you sign up for the TSA process they send you the list of people who can do it.
There are quite a few "immigration" airports with an organization that can do electronic fingerprinting on-site (either the TSA itself, or somebody else). If you happen to arrive in the US via one of these airports (fair chance) you can do the fingerprinting straight away - although I do not need if you need to make an appointment or can just walk in.
For most types of flight training you can commence training once the TSA has acknowledged receipt of your fingerprints - you don't need to wait for the vetting process to end successfully. With electronic fingerprinting I understand the acknowledgement is usually sent in less than 24 hours.
Personally I would not worry about getting fingerprinting done ahead of time (e.g. in Farnborough or the pub in Bedford) except if you happen to live very local to those places. Or if you are going to do the few types of flight training that do require the vetting process to be completed successfully before being allowed training.
The list of fingerprinting locations for the TSA can be found here: https://www.natacs.aero/afsp/find_location.asp
However, I found that the CFI selects the examiner for your checkride, typically uses only two or three individuals and knew their likes/dislikes very well, which obviously helps with the preparation.
[my bold]
That's important in both FAA and JAA training.
It's very much about efficiently targeting the "required expertise".
It's often the case in the USA that the DPE owns the school, so his instructors know him well. Here, in the JAA pipeline, that's not the case but the instructors will try to line you up with an examiner (speaking of the IR so a CAA staff examiner or a freelance FE) who is known to be reasonable. Most are fine but not all. But if the DPE owns the school you don't have a choice and accordingly the one I got was a grumpy old sod (now retired).
It sounds to me like this part-61 school simply wants part of the action. Since they can't do it legally (not being part-141 and thus not SEVIS approved), they walk on just the wrong side of the fine line and hope they don't get caught.
But do you (the customer) care?
I don't want to start the interminable debate about whether one is there for more than 18hrs/week (one of the numerous requirement criteria for the M1 visa, with the others varying according to which ex MacDonalds burger-serving TSA or US Embassy employee you asked; most of them make up replies on the spot) and in any case I am far from qualified to talk about it, but I have spent way too many hours reading about this stuff from people who are well qualified and no two of them agree on the situation where the training is less than 18hrs/week.
Obviously if you ask the US Embassy they will say you need an M1 visa to do plane spotting 
Oh, and the "fraction of a time" stuff is bull
I agree; the actual process is the same. Part 141 training is a different process entirely, AFAIK.
But do you (the customer) care?
If the US government finds you doing stuff in violation of the visa restrictions under which you entered the country (or the VWP as applicable), not only do you run the risk of being deported, but you may also be barred from entering the US in the future again.
I agree it's a far-fetched scenario, but it's your responsibility to have the proper immigration status, not the schools. So you are also the one that gets into trouble if you get it wrong, not the school.
As far as the 18 hrs/week is concerned, that's a guideline (I think) for vocational studies. I have never seen this interpreted or used in the flight training context. So there is also no interpretation of what should be included in the 18 hrs/week: Just the flying part itself, the flight preparation, the groundschool, the self-study, the exams? Nobody knows.
All I know is that if your "primary purpose" is flight training, you'd better have an M-1 visa otherwise you're on thin ice.
For most types of flight training you can commence training once the TSA has acknowledged receipt of your fingerprints - you don't need to wait for the vetting process to end successfully.
Sure but personally I wanted everything in place before I left the UK. Particularly as, unless you can guarantee electronic fingerprinting, you could be sitting around for a week unable to train.
Getting back to the original question: "Getting a standaone FAA PPL Licence in the UK"....is it possible? If so, is it made simpler by already having a 61.75 certificate on the basis of a UK/JAA/EASA licence?
Anthony Quick
It is absolutely possible.
The only question mark, as always, is over getting the final checkride done in the UK.
Having a 61.75 makes no difference.
As I understand it 'as long as you do any training in the USA who leads to a rating or license you need a M1 visa, no matter how much training is done'
Indeed, getting your name flagged in the Homeland Security computer will be very problematic in any entry you are doing later on.
I know personally that even having a correct VISA to enter the USA but have anything noted in the their computers of a previous interrogation in the past immediately puts you in the interrogation room for hours. It's like they receive an extra bonus on their pay when they do that.
