Agree with YankATC
iawilson13
I'm not an expert on any of your questions and retired from FAA for nearly 2 years. Check out the "new" contract. Rumor is there are pay improvements. The labor/management pendulum is swinging back toward labor. Management will never be able to do what they did when they implemented the "non-tract" without mediation/arbitration. (The law was changed because they did!!!)
My advise to you is:
1) Get picked up by the FAA and fully certify. I believe once you certify, then leave, you should be able to get back in the FAA after you are 31.
2) All the non-US jobs I've found request at least 3 years experience.
3) Consider not just pay & benefits, but how expensive it is to work overseas and quality of life for someone your age.
4) All things - pay/benefits/housing allowance/pension etc. are changing quite rapidly.
5) Consider the centers, if offered. The money always is with the busier radar facilities. Many of the overseas high pay jobs seem to be center(or "area") controllers.
If I was your age again & a US citizen, I'd go to the FAA first (and probably your only option), and after I certify, start reassesing my situation and go from there. The higher paying jobs (for those of us from the US) are in the Middle East - UAE, Bahrain, but they want experience. Traffic is still growing there.
Good luck