Thanks for the replies, everyone. My salary is 40k gross. West Virginia is right at the bottom of salaries in the nation. I am currently a middle school band director and do a million performances a year--that won't be an issue.

I'm sorry I misspoke in my OP. The issue is on Thailand's end, not the US's. So that could be an issue for schools issuing me a visa, even though she's not teaching?

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Shad, my wife has a Business degree from a Thai university, and she had a pretty good job before we moved back to the states. She's working as a waitress now, though, just because she makes more doing that than any entry-level position around where we're living (she made $700 less than I did last year according to her W2.) Good point about citizenship--right now we've read the US is not offering dual-citizenship, and she wants to keep her Thai citizenship in case we move back to Thailand and want to buy land. We don't plan on having kids, so that's not an issue for us.

The biggest decision is just deciding to take the plunge. We have a house (though I'm sure we'd make money if we sold it) and both of us have jobs we currently enjoy. It's just a question of whether we could be earning/saving more teaching abroad, and "getting more" out of life.

The biggest factor in the way for me is that I'm working towards paying off my student loans via the public works forgiveness program. Basically, if I make 10 years of on-time payments while working for a public institution, the rest of my loans would be forgiven.

Thanks, Thames Pirate! This is definitely something I'm looking at pursuing for the 2017-2018 school year at the earliest. I want to start doing research early though, just to make sure I can find the best job in the best location I can. Is there a place (is it this site for members?) which catalogs the mean salary per country (per tier, I guess?) of international schools?

Thanks for confirming my assumption about SA. I guess as long as I'm paying my fee they would be willing to talk with me about things in general even though I'm not looking to start for a few years, right?

A little bio first:

I'm a certified music teacher in the US; this is my 10th year teaching in public schools. About 10 years ago (after my 4th year of teaching in the states I taught ESL (through EPIK) for two years--I didn't know about international schools at that time.

I'm thinking about going back abroad to teach through an international school. I'd love to return to Korea, but I'm open to anywhere in Asia. I've read good things about Search Associates--is that who you would recommend? I'm looking to match or exceed my current salary (~40kUSD.) I'm married to a Thai citizen with a US green card.

Any ideas on where the best place to start is?