Very negative. Curious as to where you get your expertise. From my (admittedly limited) research, immigration for skilled workers is easy if not encouraged. Take for example, NZ, which lists hundreds of "qualified" jobs on their immigration site that will get you fast-tracked toward 2+ year documents.
Some countries, at least the UK and Australia have a points system whereby if you qualify it's relatively easy to move over. Most countries require you to have lined up a specific job (i.e. not starting a company) that couldn't be filled by a local. Understand that "relatively easy" means, "a huge amount of effort, waiting and frustration, bordering on traumatic".
Moving away from the US is a huge amount of work. I have done it and I have to say that I agree with the negative tone here -- if you're not completely determined to do it, and haven't done the due diligence to have a strong desire to go to a specific place and really dig deep into their immigration requirements, then it bodes ill for your scheming. It's just not something you can do on a whim.
As for workplaces, some are in English, especially in international firms, but usually to feel comfortable in a place you'll want to learn the local language. Aside from it being necessary for building up a social circle, say, when you go to the doctor, or need to get your utilities set up, or have to fill out your tax forms, that will naturally all be in the local language.
Setting up a new business, without a local co-founder, would be next to impossible without speaking the local language ( aside from the fact that in most countries you wouldn't be allowed to do so anyway). You need to put so many things -- taxes, incorporation, insurance, contracts, banking -- and again, naturally all of those things will happen in the local language.
And then, to top things off, for doing a startup, the US is the most convenient place to be. You can do it elsewhere, and there are a couple hot spots -- Tel Aviv, London -- but it seems best to focus on where you want to be, figure out if you could possible get there, and then figure out if there's a startup scene. Keep in mind that if you start sorting this out today, it'll probably be 6-12 months before you could move.
Note, I didn't say that immigration is impossible. All immigrant needs is to be profitable for the country he wants to move to. If he has really good skills in a priority area and if purposed country has a lack of qualified workers in that area, he has a chance to get a work permit. In this case all depends on his skills. And it's not "pessimistic" point of view, rather it's realistic.
Actually I don't know much about NZ immigration policy, but in some countries(CZ for example) you can find a job on the spot, in other countries(for example in Australia) you have to prove your skills via some tests and only after you have appropriate number of points you get a work permit.
NZ immigration policy is points based like Australia. There aren't any tests that I know of except English language tests, which are waived for native english speakers.
