How to Convert a Foreign Pilot License to an FAA Certificate

Quick answer: if you hold a pilot licence at private level or higher issued by an ICAO contracting state, you can obtain an FAA private pilot certificate under 14 CFR 61.75 without repeating flight training. The critical detail that surprises most professional pilots: 61.75 issues a private certificate only. If you hold a foreign CPL or ATPL, you still receive an FAA private certificate. Commercial privileges require meeting the full FAA commercial requirements separately. The process starts with a Verification of Authenticity letter from the FAA, which takes roughly 45 to 90 days.

What 61.75 Is and What It Is Not

14 CFR 61.75 allows the FAA to issue a U.S. private pilot certificate on the basis of a foreign pilot licence, without a further showing of proficiency. Your foreign licence must have been issued by a contracting state to the ICAO Convention and must be at private pilot level or higher. At Pelican this pathway continues through our ICAO and EASA conversion program.

The certificate you receive specifies your foreign licence number and country of issuance. It is dependent on that foreign licence: if your foreign licence becomes invalid, so does the FAA certificate issued on the basis of it.

Now the part that matters most to professional pilots. Section 61.75 issues a private pilot certificate regardless of the level of your foreign licence. A Nigerian CPL, an Indian CPL, an EASA ATPL, a Kazakh commercial licence: all of them convert to an FAA private pilot certificate. You do not receive FAA commercial privileges through this route.

To hold an FAA commercial certificate you must meet the FAA's commercial requirements in full: the aeronautical experience of 14 CFR 61.129, the commercial knowledge test, and the commercial practical test. Your 61.75 private certificate is the foundation you build that on, via 61.123(h).

The Verification of Authenticity Letter

Nothing happens without this. Before the FAA will issue a certificate on the basis of your foreign licence, the Airmen Certification Branch must verify with your national civil aviation authority that your licence and medical certificate are genuine and current.

You request this verification from the FAA Airmen Certification Branch. Processing takes approximately 45 to 90 days. The FAA's own guidance is explicit: do not schedule travel or a checkride until you have the verification letter in hand.

This is the step that derails schedules. Pilots book flights, arrange time off work, and arrive in Florida expecting to convert in a fortnight, only to discover their verification is still sitting with their home authority. Start this before you do anything else. It costs you nothing to begin early and it is the longest pole in the tent.

If your national authority is slow to respond to the FAA, that delay is outside both your control and ours. Some authorities respond in three weeks. Some take four months.

What Else You Need

• A valid foreign medical certificate, or an FAA medical. A foreign medical often cannot be used to exercise privileges in the U.S., so most pilots obtain an FAA medical from a designated aviation medical examiner. Class 3 supports private privileges, Class 2 commercial privileges, Class 1 ATP privileges.
• English language proficiency. Every pilot issued a U.S. certificate must meet the FAA Aviation English Language Standard, which corresponds to ICAO Language Proficiency Operational Level 4.
• An in-person appointment. Foreign licence conversion must be completed face to face with a Designated Pilot Examiner or at a Flight Standards District Office. Virtual appointments are not accepted.
• TSA approval, if you will be undertaking any flight training in the U.S. See our guide to the TSA Flight Training Security Program.

Do My Foreign Flight Hours Count?

This is the question we are asked most often, and the answer has two halves that are frequently conflated.

For FAA experience requirements under Part 61: yes. Properly logged flight time is flight time. Your total time, pilot in command time, cross country and instrument time count toward the aeronautical experience requirements for an FAA commercial certificate under 61.129.

For an approved Part 141 course curriculum: no. A Part 141 school runs an FAA approved syllabus with defined minimum hours in each course. Prior experience elsewhere does not reduce the hours in that approved curriculum. This is how Part 141 programs maintain standardisation, and it is not a policy any individual school can waive.

So a pilot with 300 hours from another country is not starting from zero in any meaningful sense. But they will complete the full approved course at a Part 141 school, and they should budget accordingly rather than assuming a discount.

A Realistic Sequence for a Foreign CPL Holder

1. Request the Verification of Authenticity letter. Allow 45 to 90 days. Do this first.
2. Obtain an FAA medical certificate from a designated aviation medical examiner, at the class appropriate to the privileges you intend to exercise.
3. Complete TSA FTSP approval if you will be training in the U.S.
4. Meet a Designated Pilot Examiner in person with your foreign licence, medical, passport and verification letter, and be issued your 61.75 private pilot certificate.
5. Assess your currency honestly. If it has been years since you last flew, or years since you last flew the category and class in question, plan a standardisation period before anything else. This is a safety matter, not an upsell.
6. Train toward FAA commercial privileges, the instrument rating if you do not already hold FAA instrument privileges, and instructor certificates if you intend to build hours by instructing.

If You Have Been Out of the Cockpit

A licence does not expire in the way currency does. We regularly speak with pilots whose last flight in a given category was five, ten or fifteen years ago.

Be honest with yourself and with your instructor about the gap. Expect a flight review, expect an instrument proficiency check if you intend to fly on instruments, and expect to need more than the published minimum hours during the first phase. Published hours assume a current, proficient pilot. Rebuilding proficiency is the point of a standardisation phase, and skipping it to save money is the most expensive decision available to you.

Special Conversion Routes

Some states have negotiated arrangements that differ from the standard 61.75 route. The FAA publishes specific guidance for European Union Aviation Safety Agency licence holders and for Transport Canada Civil Aviation licence holders. If you hold an EASA or TCCA licence, check whether the relevant advisory circular applies to you before assuming the standard path.

Frequently Asked Questions

Read Next

• ICAO EASA license conversion program at Pelican
• TSA FTSP application guide
• Types of pilot licenses and ratings explained
• What is IFR and how instrument flight rules work

Official Sources

• 14 CFR 61.75, Private pilot certificate issued on the basis of a foreign pilot license: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-61/subpart-B/section-61.75
• FAA, Verify the Authenticity of a Foreign License and Medical Certification: https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/foreign_license_verification
• FAA, DPE Foreign Pilot Informational Letter: https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/DPE%20Foreign%20Pilot%20Informational%20Letter.pdf
• FAA Advisory Circular 61-143, EASA conversion; Advisory Circular 61-135, TCCA conversion

This article is general information and not legal advice. FAA procedures change and individual circumstances vary. Confirm current requirements with the FAA or with our admissions team before acting.