Can I convert my FAA ATP straight into an EASA ATPL?

No. The best case, set out in the UK CAA's third-country route and mirrored in EU rules, gives you full credit for the training courses but still requires you to sit the complete theoretical knowledge exam set and pass an ATPL skill test on type in an approved simulator with that authority's examiner.

How long does the FAA side take?

Plan on three to six months, most of it waiting. The FAA states that verification of a foreign licence and medical takes approximately 45 to 90 days, and it advises against booking checkrides or travel until the verification letter arrives.

Does the FAA-EASA bilateral agreement help airline pilots?

Only if you are converting private privileges. ENAC lists the covered items as PPL(A), SEP(land), MEP(land), night and single-pilot instrument ratings, and Sweden's authority confirms that a CPL holder must instead use Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2020/723.

Will my EASA type rating transfer to an FAA certificate, or the other way round?

No. Each system issues its own type rating, though your current type is normally the aircraft you use for the new checkride. The UK CAA also warns that only the class or type flown on the conversion skill test gets endorsed, so multiple types mean multiple transfers.

Do I need a new medical?

Yes, in both directions. There is no reciprocity: an FAA first-class from a designated AME going west, an EU Part-MED Class 1 going east, and the IAA notes that where your medical records sit determines which state must issue your European licence.

Is it cheaper to convert or to start again in Europe?

Convert, if you already hold 1,500 hours and a current type rating. Below that threshold you fall into the modular CPL/ME/IR route with its 100-hour PIC requirement, which costs in the region of EUR 30,000 to 45,000 rather than the EUR 6,000 to 12,000 range of an experienced-pilot conversion.

FAA and EASA licence conversion in 2026: what transfers, what you redo

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.

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

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

Editorial on the aviation hiring market.

FAA and EASA licence conversion in 2026: what transfers, what you redo

The only genuine conversion is at private pilot level

FAA to EASA at commercial level: exams, then a skill test on type

EASA to FAA: the wait is the project

ATP and ATPL are not the same certificate

Medicals and English: no reciprocity in either direction

Money and clock, with provenance attached

Where the sources disagree, and it matters

Methodology and confidence

Frequently asked questions

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