When Riyadh Air posted 18 pilot vacancies inside a fortnight this May, the applicant pool that landed in front of its recruiters was split roughly down the middle between FAA and EASA paperwork, and the carrier did not much care which. Gulf regulators validate ICAO-compliant licences from both systems, so for a pilot moving into Jeddah, Doha or Riyadh the FAA-versus-EASA question is close to academic.
It stops being academic the day you want out. A Gulf contract ends, or a family situation changes, and the licence in your bag decides whether your next employer is in Dublin or Dallas. That is when pilots discover the thing the marketing pages bury: at airline level, in either direction, there is no conversion. There is credit against training, and there is a fresh set of exams and checks with a different regulator's name on them.
The only genuine conversion is at private pilot level
The FAA and EASA do have a mutual licensing deal, and it is narrower than most people assume. Annex 3 to the US-EU Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement, implemented through the Technical Implementation Procedures for Licensing (TIP-L), was approved in November 2020 and took effect in May 2021 according to Sweden's Transportstyrelsen. Italy's ENAC lists the scope precisely: PPL(A), SEP(land), MEP(land), night rating, and single-pilot instrument ratings on single and multi-engine aeroplanes. Aeroplanes only. Nothing commercial.
Inside that box, the process is genuinely light: an application form that doubles as the skill test report, flown with an examiner in the receiving state. Transportstyrelsen adds a detail that catches people out: for the IR, the hours and IFR training you are counting must have been flown after the rating was issued, not during the course.
Two traps sit in the same box. Transportstyrelsen notes that an EASA CPL(A) holder cannot use the BASA route to bring across ratings and must fall back on Article 10 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/723 instead, so the "easy" route closes the moment you hold a commercial licence. And a US certificate issued under 14 CFR 61.75, the piggyback private certificate based on a foreign licence, is excluded from TIP-L. The workaround pilots discuss on European GA forums, get a 61.75 certificate, add an FAA instrument rating to it, then push that IR back into the EASA licence, does not work as written.
FAA to EASA at commercial level: exams, then a skill test on type
The Irish Aviation Authority states the position bluntly: there is no automatic conversion of an ICAO CPL to a Part-FCL CPL, only training credits under Article 3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/723. The UK CAA's published text on third-country CPL and ATPL conversion sets out the best-case version of that credit for an experienced airline pilot: full credit for the requirement to attend a training course before the theory exams and before the skill test, provided you already meet the Part-FCL Subpart F experience for an ATPL and your third-country licence carries a valid type rating for the aircraft used on the test. What you still owe: every theoretical knowledge examination, and an ATPL skill test on type, flown in an approved simulator with an examiner certificated by that authority.
So the credit removes ground school and training hours. It does not remove the exam papers. An FAA ATP written does not map onto the European theory set, and the IAA's own FAQ only accepts third-country theory exams where they were passed within the previous 36 months, which for an FAA pilot is mostly moot because the subject structure does not correspond.
| Your FAA position | EASA route | What you redo |
|---|---|---|
| PPL + IR/night, SEP or MEP | BASA Annex 3 / TIP-L | Skill test, documentation, Part-MED Class 2 |
| CPL/IR, under 1,500 h | Article 3 credit, modular CPL | Full ATPL theory set, 100 h PIC, CPL and MEIR skill tests, MCC |
| ATP, meets Subpart F experience, current type rating | Article 10 / third-country ATPL route | Full theory set, ATPL skill test on type in approved sim |
Two administrative points matter more than they look. First, the IAA states that where your medical records are held determines which EU state you must apply to for licence issue, regardless of where you sit the exams or the test. Pick the AeMC for your initial Class 1 with that in mind. Second, the UK CAA warns that only the class or type flown on the skill test is endorsed on the new licence, even if your old one lists several; each additional type needs its own transfer process.
EASA to FAA: the wait is the project
The FAA's route for an experienced pilot is 14 CFR 61.153(d)(3), which accepts a foreign ATPL with instrument privileges, or a foreign CPL with an instrument rating, from an ICAO contracting state. You still meet the 61.159 experience table, sit the ATP knowledge test, complete the ATP Certification Training Program before that test if you are going multi-engine, and pass a practical test, normally rolled into a type-rating check in a Level D simulator at a Part 142 centre.
Before any of that, the Airmen Certification Branch has to verify your licence and medical with your issuing authority. The FAA's own page puts that at approximately 45 to 90 days and tells applicants not to book travel or checkrides until the verification letter is in hand. Every realistic timeline for this direction is built around that number.
At private level, 61.75 remains the cheapest paperwork in aviation: a US private certificate issued on the basis of your foreign licence, with no proficiency test, carrying your foreign licence number and country of issue on its face. It is dependent, not standalone. Your EASA licence lapses, and so do the US privileges.
ATP and ATPL are not the same certificate
The two systems put the hurdle in different places, which is why pilots feel the conversion is unfair in whichever direction they are going.
- The FAA ATP is a single certificate with a hard 1,500-hour gate plus the CTP course, and once issued it does not need "unfreezing".
- The EASA ATPL requires 1,500 hours including 500 on multi-pilot aircraft, and until then a CPL/IR holder flies with frozen ATPL theory credits. The UK CAA lists the Subpart F detail: 200 hours cross-country with 100 as PIC or PICUS, and 75 hours instrument time of which no more than 30 may be ground instrument time.
- Theory validity behaves differently. Transportstyrelsen states that ATPL theory exams remain valid for ATPL issue for seven years from the last validity date of an IR in the licence, while the same passes are worth 36 months for CPL purposes.
- Multi-crew cooperation is a European construct with no FAA equivalent. An airline pilot with substantial multi-pilot time is usually not asked to repeat MCC, but this is a national call rather than a published entitlement, so confirm it in writing before you book anything.
Medicals and English: no reciprocity in either direction
Neither authority accepts the other's medical certificate. Going west, you need an FAA first-class from an FAA-designated AME, and the certificate lapses at 12 months, or six months once you are over 40, for ATP privileges. Going east, you need an EU Part-MED Class 1, and the IAA is explicit that the initial examination fixes which state's licensing system you then sit inside. Class 2 is the floor for a PPL conversion under TIP-L, per the UK CAA's equivalent guidance.
English proficiency is the smaller cost and the more common delay. FAA certificates carry a plain "English proficient" statement with no ICAO level attached, so European authorities generally want a language proficiency endorsement assessed at Level 4, 5 or 6 by a body they approve. Budget an assessment appointment, not a course. In the other direction, the FAA reads proficiency out of the verification correspondence and the practical test.
Money and clock, with provenance attached
| Item | Figure | Source quality |
|---|---|---|
| FAA foreign licence verification | No fee, 45–90 days | Published by FAA |
| ATP knowledge test at a test centre | approx. USD 175 | Provider pricing, verify current |
| ATP-CTP course | USD 4,000–6,500 | Training provider list prices |
| FAA first-class medical | USD 120–250 | Community reported |
| Type rating plus ATP practical, self-funded | USD 15,000–30,000 | Part 142 provider quotes |
| EASA Class 1 initial at an AeMC | EUR 500–1,000 | Provider pricing, varies by state |
| ATPL theory distance-learning course | EUR 1,800–4,000 | ATO list prices |
| Theory exam fees, all papers | EUR 800–2,000 | Provider quotes, check the authority's scheme of charges |
| ATPL skill test, sim hire and examiner | EUR 4,000–10,000 if self-funded | ATO quotes |
| Full modular CPL/ME/IR/MCC if under 1,500 h | EUR 30,000–45,000 | European ATO pricing |
Realistic totals: EASA to FAA ATP costs roughly USD 8,000 to 12,000 if an employer supplies the simulator and type, and two to three times that self-funded, over three to six months. FAA ATP to an EASA ATPL runs about EUR 6,000 to 12,000 where an airline provides the sim for the skill test, over six to twelve months, driven by exam sitting windows rather than by flying. Below 1,500 hours the European direction stops being a conversion and becomes a second training programme at second-programme prices.
Where the sources disagree, and it matters
- Exam credit for FAA writtens. Several conversion agencies imply an FAA ATP written buys relief from the European theory set. The UK CAA's published route says complete all theoretical knowledge examinations with the authority, and the IAA accepts third-country passes only inside a 36-month window. Trust the regulator's text.
- Number of papers. Most EU states run 13 ATPL(A) papers under the current learning objectives; the UK still lists 14, splitting VFR and IFR communications. Confirm with the state you are applying to before buying a question bank.
- UK versus EU. A UK Part-FCL licence is a third-country licence to EASA and vice versa, and Transportstyrelsen's guidance on expired UK exam credits shows how quickly that gets expensive. Do not assume a British licence shortens a European conversion.
Methodology and confidence
Regulatory scope, process steps and timelines here come from primary sources checked on 7 August 2026: FAA AC 61-143 and the FAA foreign licence verification page, 14 CFR 61.75 on eCFR, the UK CAA third-country conversion pages, the IAA's third-country licensing FAQ, Transportstyrelsen's BASA guidance and ENAC's summary of TIP-L scope. Those are firm.
Costs are not officially published by either authority beyond application fees, and none of the figures in the cost table should be treated as a quote. They are aggregated from training provider list prices and pilot community reporting, and per-paper exam fees in particular vary by state in ways we could not verify for every authority at the time of writing. The MCC credit question and the exact language proficiency requirement are the two items most likely to be answered differently by two EU states on the same day, so get both in writing from your chosen authority before you spend anything.