US to Canadian

My first post; sorry if I sound a little behind the times. I've been thinking of converting my FAA license over to a Canadian license, mostly for the chance of opening up a few more opportunities to fly on floats. I have a pretty good idea of the process, which seems fairly straight forward. I was wondering if I could get some feedback / real world information from someone who has actually gone through the conversion. What's actually involved? Any information would be appreciated.

Hello Rockymtn,

Among my first posts too

I had both my FAA commercial, and then ATP converted to TC (Transport Canada). As you mentioned, its pretty straight forward.

• You'll have to first fill out a form for verification of your FAA certificates and send it in to TC along with copies of the certs.
• The TC inspector will advice you once he/she receives the verification from FAA (mine took about 3 weeks about 3 yrs back, and the inspector said they were experiencing delays at the time, and should only take about a week or so). At this point, you should ideally be ready with your Canadian medical. (this can be done in the US as well).
• Once you get the go ahead from the inspector, you can take the radio exam (consisting a written and an oral) and schedule and take the conversion exam at a TC office (like our FSDOs). If commercial with Instrument privileges, you'll need to take 2 tests.
• That's it. Submit your Radio licence, Medical, test results and original copy of your logs to the inspector, pay the fee and you should have your TC license. If you plan it out, you can schedule the exams and appointment with the inspector the same day. Just make sure your IPC and Flight reviews are current.

All said and done, about 1 month is what you'd be looking at. Including prepping for the exams.

Hope that helps. All the very best and let me know if we can be of any further help. Keep us posted. Good Luck!

Dont forget the right to work thru citizenship, permanent resident or visa is required if your thinking of employment.

Hi Vasu,

Much appreciated. That sounds pretty much like I thought it would. It looks like the closest Canadian medical examiner (for me) is in Phoenix. I think I'll make the trip down there and get going on the medical process. Many thanks! Fly safe.

Vasu,
Do you have a link or a phone number that I could use to get ahold of someone to get this process going? I have a good buddy that's from Canada and from what he says the pay is much better, qol much better, and they're hiring into better aircraft. Also seems like the work permit isn't that hard to obtain. I've been meaning to do it but being overseas has put a damper on those plans. Since I'm moving home soon I would figure this would be a good time as any to start on it. Never hurts to have more than one license!

=Jason-

Jason,

Sure. If you could pm me your e mail, I could provide the numbers and links (not sure if I can pm you just yet, since i'm still a newbie around here). Most info and numbers are in public domain, but could be a little tricky initially to find them. The TC inspector I liaised with was pleasant and prompt do deal with. Hope she is still at the same location!

BTW, do u still miss San Joaquin valley?

Vasu