Full guides: Setting up a Thai company · Non-B + work permit · SMART visa · LTR visa

Step one: register the legal entity

BOI's current Quick Guide to Starting a Business in Thailand and company-formation guidance, checked on 1 August 2026, identify the Department of Business Development as the company registrar. They also explain that registration and authority to conduct a particular business are separate questions.

Company documents must accurately describe the owners, directors, authorised signatures, office and capital. This article cannot prescribe a shareholder structure or registered address without knowing the actual business and applicable laws.

Step two: check foreign-business restrictions

The BOI quick guide says that where an activity is prohibited or restricted by the Foreign Business Act, the displayed foreign-ownership limit is no more than 49%. It lists three routes for an investor seeking more than that amount: a Foreign Business License from DBD, a Foreign Business Certificate after BOI certification, or Treaty of Amity treatment for a qualifying US investor.

Those are possible legal routes, not interchangeable shortcuts. Whether an activity falls within a restricted list, a BOI promotion category or treaty coverage requires a review of the actual revenue-producing activity. A Thai-majority company is not automatically lawful if the Thai shareholders are not genuine owners.

Step three: BOI promotion is a separate application

The BOI's current Thai guides index, checked on 1 August 2026, publishes the current investment-promotion guide and online-service material. Promotion depends on an eligible activity and the conditions imposed on the approved project. Company registration alone does not make a company BOI-promoted.

BOI promotion can provide tax and non-tax incentives where granted, but the exact ownership, capital, staffing, location, tax and skilled-personnel conditions are activity- and certificate-specific.

Step four: Non-B visa and work permission

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Non-Immigrant B guidance and the Consular Affairs Department's Thai Non-Immigrant guidance, checked on 1 August 2026, distinguish a business or employment visa from permission to work. The MFA page states that a person wishing to work must obtain a work permit before starting work.

The Department of Employment's e-WorkPermit portal, rechecked 29 August 2026, is the current electronic work-permit service. Company registration does not by itself establish work permission or replace the employer and worker evidence required by the visa post or Department of Employment.

A safer order of work

  1. Write a precise description of the products, services, customers and where the work will occur.
  2. Have a qualified Thai corporate lawyer classify the activity under the Foreign Business Act and any sector-specific law.
  3. Check the current BOI activity guide before assuming promotion is available.
  4. Design genuine ownership, governance, capital and office arrangements for the real operation.
  5. Obtain the company and business permissions required before trading.
  6. Confirm the correct Non-B evidence with the responsible Thai embassy or consulate.
  7. Complete the Department of Employment process before the foreign national starts work.

Claims that require case-specific confirmation

The official sources checked do not establish one universal capital-per-worker or Thai-employee ratio, private formation or accounting price, BOI or bank timeline, or automatic outcome for every company. Confirm corporate, business-permission, tax, employment and visa requirements for the actual activity and entity.

Official sources checked