Convert your certificate using the simply guidelines below.
If you hold a foreign certificate, you begin any conversion by applying for the conversion process. You can create an account on IACRA and submit your request there, or mail in your application. While you’re waiting for your verification letter, contact the flight school to inform them you’ve begun the process.
Next, contact your country’s Civil Aviation Authority to verify that your application has been received and is in processing. We’ve had students who got severely delayed because their home country CAA did not receive or acknowledge the request!
Once your existing certificate has been validated, you will receive a Letter of Verification in your IACRA account. That verification is good for six months only! This time may be shortened if your certificate is set to expire sooner than the six-month period.
If you hold a helicopter certificate (Private, Commercial, ATP, etc.), and you have completed the conversion process, the FAA should grant you an FAA Private Pilot based on a foreign license. To remove those restrictions, you would then make an appointment with a DPE.
If you plan to go further than just getting your Private Pilot Certificate, you can use your existing FAA PPL (based on a foreign) before contacting the DPE, and take the additional training to go straight to a commercial helicopter certificate. We’d like to be involved in the process for you so we can inform you if you’ll need an M-1 Visa for a full course of study and/or a TSA training Security Threat Assessment through FTSP. Not all training courses require a STA but it takes about 30 days to process the TSA STA application and we want to make sure that gets applied for at the right time if your course does require it. Let us help you plan everything you need to avoid timelines and extended stays.
If you have questions about converting your foreign certificate, you can email us at contactus@veracityaviation.com.
Please send:
- Your existing licenses/certificates (training certificates and courses do not equate to a pilot certificate; in order to complete this process, you must hold a Civil Aviation Authority level of certificate)
- A breakdown of airframes you have flight hours on
- The intended license you want to convert to
- The timeframe in which you want to begin.
We will then be able to get you a procedure and quote for any additional flight training you may need for your conversion.
If you need information on courses we offer, please go to the flight training page.