why jaa and not faa
Dear shesellsseashellsair,
first of all you gotta tell a little more about your qualifications. are you holding any multi or IR instructor ratings? see the thing is that in Europe (as far as I figured) the flightschools are mainly run by major airlines but very rarely are they the individual flying club like you know down in NZ. Most of the fulltime instructors are employed by airlines and do some line flying as well.
the Northamerican way of being a flightinstructor does probably not sound more glorious then yours in NZ. pay is usually very low and people do it just do built some hours but it'll be much easier and faster do get a instructor licence on your faa licence - the point will be just the greencard. you know we got pretty strange in the us when it comes to flying schools and alien citiziens or instructors.
if i would be you, i'd stay where you are. the country is nice and the people are friendly. surely the jobs are out in europe and the us as the market is running dry of pilots in the commercial sector. you maybe should consider to quite instructing and getting grey hairs and start flying commercial (airlines or coporate does not really matter) but especially the corporate market is doing nicely in europe and there are not so many pilots around anymore.
wish you all the best
CH