Set the company up, get the licences, and bring your people into Thailand lawfully

1. 01

   Tell us the matter

   Tell us what you intend to do in Thailand. We tell you what has to be applied for, and where it is going to stick.

2. 02

   Assessment and quotation

   We assess the matter and the routes open to it, then quote in writing, with the professional fee, the government fees and translation costs set out separately.

3. 03

   We carry it out

   The partner responsible carries the matter out. You know at every point which stage it is at and who is holding it.

4. 04

   Report and hand over

   Originals handed over with a note of what has been obtained, what has to be renewed, and when.

• The obstacle first

  Before quoting we say where the matter is actually going to stick, and whether there is a cheaper or faster way through. If the answer is that nothing needs doing, that is the answer you get.

• The right order of work

  Formation, licensing, visas and work permits sit in a fixed order. Taken out of order they have to be filed twice. We set the whole sequence out at the start.

• Three working languages

  Documents and correspondence in Thai, English and Chinese. Clients are not left reading a translation that nobody stands behind.

• A price said in advance

  The professional fee, the government fees and the translation costs are set out separately in the quotation. Nothing appears halfway through.

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  Managing Partner

  Phicha Widchyarojwara

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  Partner

  Phenhnung Thabthimthong

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  Senior Lawyer

  Jirapat Winarungruang

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  Lawyer

  Thitiwat Pholnurak

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  Legal Assistant

  Patchanon Winarungruang

• How much of a Thai company can a foreigner hold?

  Save where a sector statute or the Land Code provides otherwise, there is no general ceiling on shareholding as such. What matters is that once foreigners hold half or more, the company is itself a foreigner under the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542 and cannot carry on any activity in the schedules without permission. The usual answers are a licence, a certificate under a treaty or free trade agreement, or BOI promotion.

• Once the company exists, can it apply for a work permit straight away?

  Not always. The Department of Employment looks at paid-up registered capital together with the number of Thai employees. As a general rule that means two million baht of capital and four Thai employees for each foreigner. BOI-promoted companies work to a different set of criteria. These figures move with the regulations and with the officer's discretion, so check them before planning headcount.

• What is the difference between a visa and a work permit?

  A visa governs entry and stay and comes from an embassy or from the Immigration Bureau. A work permit governs working and comes from the Department of Employment. Someone holding a perfectly valid visa still may not work until the permit issues, and working without one carries penalties for the worker and the employer alike.

Full profiles More questions

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  One chat, two transfers, only one recovered

  In judgment 3622/2568 two transfers in the same chat went opposite ways: a thank-you sticker counted as a signature but did not make the message mean a loan.

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  The thirty per cent nobody can find in the statute

  Section 302 of the Civil Procedure Code protects an amount, not a percentage: government pay is wholly exempt, private pay up to twenty thousand baht a month.

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  Acknowledging a debt after it has expired leaves the creditor two years

  The same acknowledgment yields ten years or two, depending only on whether it was signed before or after the claim expired: judgments 4507/2547 and 12264/2555.

All insights