How to Start a Manufacturing Industry in Thailand

Very easy! Your company needs to have the following and you are good to go;

1. Shareholders — Minimum of 3 shareholders and during the incorporation stage it would have to be 3 natural people (of any nationality). Should you wish to have your offshore juristic entity (e.g. your offshore head office) to be one of the shareholders of this Thai juristic entity, this could be done after the incorporation of the company.

2. Director(s) — Minimum of 1 person

3. Address — An address in Thailand to be the registered address of the company

4. Objective(s) — A clear and detail objective(s)

5. License(s) — Some objectives will require a specific license(s) in order to operate (if required). In your case, you may require an export license.

And in case you want a Business visa and a work permit, then you will require to have the following:

• A paid-up Registered Capital of at least 2,000,000 Baht; AND
• Employing 4 Thai employees.

Usually, in any common case, the company will need to have Thai shareholder or Thai shareholders holding a total of (no less than) 51%, but there are exceptions, if you are doing:

1. Would be performing an only export activity (i.e. Sourcing goods within Thailand and to export them out — This may be suitable in your situation), or

2. Business activities that corresponding the BOI’s eligible activity list, or

3. If the majority of the shares are to be owned by American nationals (including Directorship); or

4. Apply for Alien Business License (also known as Foreign Business License) for your offshore juristic entity, such as Branch Office, Regional Office or a Representative office); or

5. Trade treaty(s) that allow your nationality to perform certain business in Thailand while holding the majority of the shares (e.g. FTA between Thai and Japanese or FTA between Thai and Australian).

For more information, you can write to us at officer@konradlegal.com