I have been asked this in email.
Apparently the school has got very busy and is short of examiners and they can’t do the checkride before this man’s I-20 runs out, some weeks from now. It is a bit scandalous, not to mention the loss of currency and additional training required before the delayed checkride.
They told him to apply for another I-20 and another student visa!
I would probably take the view that assuming he has been signed off already he is no longer really training. That is assuming he can come back in on a visa waiver for a holiday and to take his checkride.
Yes I finished the actual course and have been hanging around for weeks now together with other students waiting to do their check rides, I contacted another school in San Diego and they said they have the same problem with examiners. Someone who was in the same postion as me went to Mexico and reentered hoping to do his check ride on a visa waiver and was banned for 5 years . I would have thought a check ride should be part of the course but apparently not . The US schools are famous for squeezing out your last dollar but this is criminal!
I would think a checkride doesn’t need a visa or TSA and should be doable on a “holiday” trip of a few days. It doesn’t go anywhere near the 18hrs/week threshold, etc.
So if you have completed the course, you should be able to go to any DPE for the checkride. They are freelancers. Hopefully someone here (we have a number of US based people here) might post, or PM you with a suggestion.
I wonder if there is an issue with Part 141 schools and using a freelance DPE? Most US private training is done by Part 61 schools, and often the owner of the school is the DPE, but – at least when I was doing this in 2006 – only a Part 141 school could issue an I-20 and this meant all “foreigners” had to use Part 141 schools.
I do know of UK pilots who did a complete ATP out there in Part 61 schools, below the radar 
in years past, but that is not recommended…
Do make sure you have all training fully signed off! And remember you must have 3hrs with a CFII within the 60 days preceeding the checkride, so don’t leave it for too long.
Thanks, I,ll keep u updated ….
For the checkride you are PIC…so it can´t be training, can it? However, the flights to regain currency are. Difficult….but if you start asking questions you will most probably end up applying for another I-20.
dally83 wrote:
Someone who was in the same postion as me went to Mexico and reentered hoping to do his check ride on a visa waiver and was banned for 5 years
From a US immigration POV this ‘go a day to Mexico and then come back under a different status’ is about the dumbest thing possible. Don’t.
dally83 wrote:
I would have thought a check ride should be part of the course but apparently not . The US schools are famous for squeezing out your last dollar but this is criminal!
Frankly, it’s not necessarily their fault. I keep hearing this also from US students, it seems to be a real issue. My guess is that a lot of the older guys retired or started doing other things during the slump and now that the training scene has recovered and picked up a lot there aren’t enough around. I may know someone in the L.A. area (not sure he still does it, though), but what I don’t know is if once you have started training at a Part 141 school you can then just wander off and get a freelancer. Better check that one out first.
I emailed the school in Arizona about this…
The way I would approach this if it was me:
Hi , yes it seems its everywhere. I contacted my old school in San Diego and they have the same problem , Im going to San Diego to see them and try to get my answers re independant examiner etc , thanks guys for your help .
I got this from one US school
I don’t agree with the first para but I can see it would be the only possible “safe” position for any US school to adopt openly.
