My main worry is that I'll effectively be a guest labourer. If I loose my job in Auckland, I have a grace period and if I fail to find another job within this period (e.g. because we're in the middle of a global recession cleaning out overinvestment in startups) I can ship my kids back home across half the planet...

Permanent residency is fairly easy to get in New Zealand if you work in tech and have a degree, especially if your job offer is outside Auckland or pays over $100k.

Have a look at the residency points calculator and see how many you get: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/apply-for-...

Yep but they've toughened it up a bit in recent years (good for NZ to do so, in my humble opinion -- without wanting go into politics, I wish my own native country would do something similar). A few years ago I would have gotten permanent residency immediately. Now apparently it's really necessary, de facto, to have worked there before applying for it.

Thanks, if I get serious I'll look into it.