Who this is for, and what we can help with

Most people who contact us are not looking for a lecture on Thai company law. They have something specific they need to do, a rough sense that it involves paperwork and a government office, and no clear picture of what it will cost or how long it will take. This page sets out the situations we work on and what help is available in each.

You are starting a business in Thailand

You know what the business will do. What is usually unresolved is the structure: who owns it, how much capital it needs, who can sign for it, and whether the activity itself needs anything beyond registration. Those decisions are easier to make before the company exists than after.

If ownership will be majority foreign, the Foreign Business Act is the first thing to work through rather than the last. It determines whether the activity is restricted, and if it is, which route is open — a Foreign Business Licence, BOI promotion, or a treaty route where one applies. Each route carries different implications for capital and structure, so it is worth settling before the structure is fixed.

You are changing a company you already have

Directors change. Capital goes up or down. The registered address moves. Shares transfer. Each of these is ordinary, and each has a resolution requirement and a filing deadline attached to it. The work is in identifying which applies and preparing a filing that is consistent with the company's existing records.

• Appointing or removing directors, or changing who can sign for the company
• Increasing or decreasing registered capital
• Moving the registered office, within a province or across one
• Changing the company name, objectives or articles of association
• Share transfers and changes to the shareholder register

You are working through a licensing issue

Sometimes the company is already registered and the question is whether it is permitted to do what it is doing, or what it now wants to do. That question tends to arrive at an inconvenient moment — before a lease is signed, before a bank account is opened, or when a counterparty asks for evidence of a permission nobody obtained.

This is work we would rather do early. The options are wider before a commitment is made than after.

Who this is probably not for

We are a small firm and we are clear about scope. If you want the cheapest possible registration with no view on structure, or you want someone to file something you have already decided on without reviewing whether it is right, we are not the best fit. The value here is in the review, and the review is the part that takes professional time.