United Kingdom
Thailand
Spain
Australia
01
Start with the decision
Compare the whole move before becoming attached to one route or location.
● PLAN MY MOVE ●
Your move abroad,
mapped out.
Independent, practical guidance for people considering life abroad—connecting visas, tax, banking, healthcare and work before an expensive decision is made.
FROM IDEA TO EVERYDAY LIFE
A move is more than a destination.
Good planning connects the initial idea with the paperwork—and with the ordinary life waiting at the other end.
02
Check the practical detail
Put visas, tax, banking, healthcare and costs into the same plan.
03
Picture the everyday life
Plan for how the place will work on an ordinary Tuesday, not only on arrival day.
POPULAR PATHWAYS
Start with somewhere that fits.
Focused country guidance, built for decisions—not daydreaming.
ONE MOVE. FOUR ESSENTIALS.
See the whole picture.
Each subject affects the others. We connect them in the order you need to consider them.
Visa routes
Eligibility, income thresholds, costs and application steps—translated into plain English.
Read the Thailand guide →Tax essentials
Understand the questions to ask in your home country and where you plan to live.
Read the Thailand guide →Banking & money
Compare practical ways to bank, transfer money and manage spending across borders.
Read the Thailand guide →Remote work
Prepare for compliant remote work and find opportunities designed for an international life.
Read the Thailand guide →Our guides provide general information, not individual immigration, tax, financial or legal advice. Important decisions should be checked with an appropriately qualified professional.
A NOTE FROM CHRIS
Why I built PotExp Pathways.
Chris Smethurst · FounderPotExp Pathways—short for Potential Expat Pathways—has been created specifically for people currently living and working in the UK who are considering a move abroad—whether to work remotely, retire, take local employment or simply build a different kind of life. It approaches every move from that UK starting point, while recognising that immigration, employment and tax rules vary between countries and must be checked before plans are put into action. In particular, having a UK employer or an online job does not automatically give someone the right to work while living overseas.
Moving abroad is exciting. Working out how to make it actually work is the difficult part.
Visas, tax, banking, healthcare, employment and the everyday cost of living rarely fit neatly together. A country may look perfect until one overlooked detail changes the whole picture.
I’m Chris Smethurst. After a career in financial services, compliance and due diligence, I’m used to looking beyond the headline and asking what still needs checking. I’m now applying that same approach to building a life overseas myself—and discovering that the practical reality is often quite different from the sales pitch.
That is why I created PotExp Pathways: to bring the important questions, careful research and genuine first-hand experience together in one place. I won’t tell you where to live. I’ll help you see the whole picture before you decide.
- First-hand relocation experience
- Regulatory and due-diligence background
- Independent, practical research
“The aim is simple: help you ask better questions before an expensive decision.”
Chris SmethurstFounder, PotExp Pathways
Read Chris’s journal →REMOTE WORK
Make the lifestyle workable.
Working overseas
Understand employer permission, time zones, contracts and local rules before packing.
Opportunity board
A carefully moderated home for remote roles and practical experience—planned for a later release.
Tools that travel
Plain-English comparisons of banking, insurance and everyday services.
CHRIS’S JOURNAL
The parts between the paperwork.
Honest notes on settling in, costly assumptions, things that went smoothly—and things worth doing differently.
Field notes sit within the relevant country guideFIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE
Placed where it is most useful
Personal video and written notes are included alongside the country information they relate to, while remaining clearly separate from official guidance.
Begin with a country guideCONTACT
Questions, corrections or feedback?
PotExp Pathways aims to make the practical side of moving abroad clearer. If you spot something that needs checking or want to share useful feedback, send Chris a message here.
Please don’t include passwords, passport details, financial information or other sensitive personal information.
MESSAGE CHRIS
Prefer email?chris@potexpathways.com