What is the Visa Exemption?
Pursuant to Thai Immigration Law; any foreign citizen who wishes to enter the Kingdom of Thailand is in principle required to obtain a Visa from a Royal Thai Embassy or a Royal Thai Consulate-General prior to entering Thailand.
The infamous blacklist
There are a lot of lists most of us dreamt to be on (fortune list, most influent people, most eligible bachelor and so on….) but there is one you definitively don’t want to be on, Thailand immigration blacklist.
Note: I would be unfair to Thailand if I did not state that Thailand is not the only country with an immigration blacklist. All countries have one.
Work Permits Requirements - Update
In France we have this joke of a Prime Minister giving a speech to restore confidence and saying:
" Last year we were on the brink of a cliff but I'm proud to tell you all that we have made a big step forward ".
Extending a Non Immigrant Visa B for one year
A foreign investor conducting a business in Thailand or working for a Thai company may if all conditions and documentary requirements are fulfilled file an application and obtain a one year visa.
Introduction to the Tourist Visa
What is the Tourist Visa?
Foreign investors who wish to come into Thailand for tourism purpose may either chose to come under the regime of Visa Exemption (providing that they are national from one of the countries that benefit from this exemption) or they may also apply and obtain for a Tourist Visa with a Royal Thai Embassy.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand BOI, Thailand Business
What is the BOI?
The Board of Investment or BOI is an agency set-up by the government to provide investment incentives to foreign or local investors that invest in promoted or priorities activities.
The two main objectives of the BOI are to decentralize Thailand Industrial’s base and to attract special types of investment (priority activities). Read more…
Originally posted 2009-07-21 12:51:10.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand BOI, Thailand Business
What are the activities eligible for promotion under section 4 of the BOI list?
Reminder: As you already know the Board of Investment is the agency in charge of promoting certain sectors of Thai economy. As such the BOI role is among other to determine:
What are the activities which are eligible for promotion
What are the conditions attached to said promotion
What are the privileges attached to said business activity
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-08-05 14:46:31.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand Business, Thailand Company Registration
In a previous post I explained step by step the formalities to incorporate a Thai Limited Company. Many readers have contacted me to request whether I could also post the english translation of Thai Limited Company documents for information. Today and the next few days I will post the translations of the main corporate documents of a Thai Private Limited company. Please note that this is an unofficial translation only.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-03 14:40:40.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business, Thailand Foreign Business Act
This morning in the Bangkok Post was an interesting article about the tightening of insurance shareholding rules by Sorachon Boonsong a Thai lawyer. In substance, Khun Sorachon comment on a ruling from the Council of State dated of 14 September 2009 in relation to the new shareholding requirements of the amended Life and Non Life Assurance Act.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-23 04:15:46.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
How well are Thai employees protected in Thailand?
Yes they are well protected by the Labor Protection Act (1998) that applies to all businesses with at least one employee and which provide sanctions for employers who disregard the law.
The Labor Protection Act has been recently amended and the new amended act has been enforced in 28 May 2008. The new Act contains provision to protect indirect or outsourced workers and to empower the Courts to order an amendment of employment contracts, work rules, regulations or orders that are not fair.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-08-06 03:09:51.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand Business, Thailand Company Registration
The first option available to a foreign investor who wants to start a business in Thailand is to register a non-trading legal vehicle (for example Representative Office). Hereinafter we will discuss the characteristics on Non-Trading Legal Vehicles the most common of which is the Representative Office. [this post is an updated version that replace one of my first posts]
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-10-15 00:09:26.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
In today and tomorrow post I will comment on the Global Corruption Barometer 2009 just published by the World Bank. Overall, 70 countries were surveyed, 12 of which are Asian countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea).
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-30 04:55:13.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand Business, Thailand Foreign Business Act
What is the current legal definition of a Foreigner?
In this post I will discuss how the concept of “foreigner” is defined by the Thai Foreign Business Act (formerly “Alien Business Act”) as well as the changes that the Thai Government wanted to bring to this definition in December 2007. While the attempt to change the definition of the FBA definition of the term of foreigner ultimately failed the fact is that it was the second such attempt since the enforcement of the FBA and that Foreign Investor coming to Thailand should keep in mind that said matters could resurface at any time in the future. Read more…
Originally posted 2009-07-21 12:25:37.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
They are more than a few Tom, Dick and Harry that come to do business in Thailand armed with a “colonial” false sense of superiority. This is a mistake, even if Thailand did not yet achieve European, Japanese or US standards in all matters do not be mistaken about it. Thailand is a developed country. At least economically, politically that is a story for another day.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-11-03 08:15:01.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand Business, Thailand Company Registration, Thailand Foreign Business Act
One thing I find interesting when blogging is that Google and Wordpress have tools that permit me not only to check what articles are the most successful but also the search queries of my blog readers. Now when looking at the queries I notice that there is still a lot of confusion among readers as to definition of legal concepts such as Thai or Foreign Private Limited Company and nominees. I tried hereinafter to clarify those concepts.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-10-07 04:38:15.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Understanding Thailand
Is Thailand a safe country?
Yes. Thailand has low violent crime statistics compared to other countries such as France or the US. Of course, violence does exist but is not often directed at foreigners. While there are from time to time crimes against foreigners, they are still rarer than in your homeland and when foreigners do get into trouble, they, often bring it upon themselves.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-07-23 13:06:14.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand Business, Thailand Company Registration
Why review the private limited company set-up?
The private limited company is the legal vehicle that is the most commonly used by foreign investors in Thailand that is why we will review hereinafter the formalities of registration of a private limited company.
Originally posted 2009-07-24 11:17:21.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
Is Thailand a competitive place to do business?
Never underestimates the locals, Thai businessmen are competitive and good especially at running service businesses. Read more…
Originally posted 2009-07-24 05:05:40.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
Thai journalists are so bored by this surprisingly politically “quite” beginning of the year that they have decided to entertain themselves by calling out “Coup”. And for the past week there has not been one newspaper that does not have at least one article per day on the subject of a possible coup.
Read more…
Originally posted 2010-01-26 23:24:06.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
Is Thailand open to foreign investment?
Absolutely, many foreigners are exempted from visas requirements and as you will see foreigners are welcome to invest in nearly all sectors of activities in Thailand without needing any prior authorization providing that they do a minority investment (less that 49% of a business shares in a few cases less than 25%).
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-07-24 07:41:19.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand Business, Thailand Company Registration
In a previous post I explained step by step the formalities to incorporate a Thai Limited Company. Many readers have contacted me to request whether I could also post the english translation of Thai Limited Company most important documents for information. After the Memorandum of Association (please see previous post) please see below a translation of the Minutes of the Statutory Meeting. Please note that this is an unofficial translation only.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-04 07:35:27.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
Note: This post is not entirely new. This subject was first posted as a Page called “Thailand Ratings”. I’m about to modify the look of the blog and decided that some of the subjects discussed in pages would now be treated as a post. Of course I updated the content of this post to reflect the current situation.
As we all know, Thailand was one of the victims hit hardest by the 1997 crisis, and many of Thailand’s top developers and financial institutions were bankrupted by the crisis. Earlier in 2009 I was asking whether the 2008 financial crisis would see Thailand revisiting the troubles of 1997.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-10-10 07:20:10.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Company Registration
The Business Development Department (BDB) which is the unit of the Ministry of Commerce that is handling new companies registration just issued the updated figures of new companies registration at end of October 2009. Overall 2009 was even worth than 2008 but there are reasons to expect better results next year
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-12-05 01:48:19.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand
In this post I tried to make a table that shows for each type of activities the percentage of foreign ownership allowed in Thailand. This kind of exercise is always difficult because there are so many variables applicable that the table format is not always ideal. Anyway this is a work in progress and we will try to improve the presentation over the next weeks.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-11-17 04:56:52.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
Years after its neighbors (Cambodia has issued 3G licenses years ago) Thailand is finally about to start the 3G auction process .
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-29 04:11:28.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
I have made a lot of posts about starting a business in Thailand but I never discussed the issues that need to be addressed when buying a business. In this post I will first address some general issues to consider before buying a business in Thailand
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-08 09:45:55.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business, Thailand Company Registration
There is a lot of confusion as to minimal capital requirements when doing business in Thailand and I will try to clarify this issue in this post.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-28 05:31:43.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand BOI, Thailand Business
BOI promotion: How to get started?
In this post we will review how to prepare yourself for a BOI application. We will use for this post the example of an investor that want to invest in the manufacturing sector. Note that most of our comments are generals and will also apply if you invest into another sector of activity.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-08-05 14:36:44.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business, Thailand Foreign Business Act
The hot potato of the moment is the Thai Nominees issue and there has not been one day for the past two weeks without an article or another in Thai press on the subject.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-02 05:51:07.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand
According to the Bangkok Post, Assumption University and the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission have jointly polled 2,129 people on the issue of corruption in Thai society.Hopefully, the entire results of this survey will be published soon, but some interesting elements of the survey have already been revealed by the Bangkok Post.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-11-20 10:24:24.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Company Registration
Preference Shares are opposed to ordinary shares. In Thailand, ordinary shares like in most countries entitle their holders to a share of ownership of the company including a voting right (1 vote per share) and a right to the company dividend or the company benefit of liquidation.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-11-24 03:04:41.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand BOI, Thailand Business
What are the light industries activities eligible for promotion under section 3 of the BOI list?
Reminder: As you already know the Board of Investment is the agency in charge of promoting certain sectors of Thai economy. As such the BOI role is among other to determine:
What are the activities which are eligible for promotion
What are the conditions attached to said promotion
What are the privileges attached to said business activity
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-08-03 07:10:22.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
An investor that desires to buy a business in Thailand will have several options as follows:
1. Acquisition of Shares
2. Transfer of the Entire Business Assets
- with immediate liquidation of the transferor company
- without liquidation of the transferor company
3. Amalgamation
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-09-11 06:14:37.
February 1 2010
Categories: Thailand Business, Thailand Company Registration
The private limited company is the legal vehicle that is the most commonly used by foreign investors in Thailand and we will hereinafter review the formalities of registration of a private limited company. In this article we will only review the conditions of incorporation of a Private Limited Company to the exclusion of nominees and Thai/foreign shareholders ratio which are discussed in other posts. [This post replace our previous post on the subject “How to register a company step by step”.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-10-20 07:09:45.
February 1 2010
Categories: Doing Business In Thailand, Thailand Business
In today post I continue to discuss the results of the World Bank Global Corruption Barometer 2009. Please see yesterday post on the same subject.
Read more…
Originally posted 2009-10-01 02:35:23.
