Steps, timeline and fees to set up a Treaty of Amity Company in Thailand

Here are the steps, timeline and fees to set up a Treaty of Amity Company in Thailand:

1. If you don’t have a US company yet, we will register a limited company in Thailand for you, with all 3 American shareholders (or 2 American and one Thai) with a registered capital of THB 3 M. This is because Thailand foreign business law dictates the minimum capital to be THB 3 M for a company with majority foreign shareholders. – Please note that one of the authorized directors will have to be in Thailand at the time of signing the registration application papers. Once the papers are signed the company will be born the next day, if the registered address is in Bangkok. In case you cannot be in Thailand at the time, we will have to add more days to the process while you have your signatures notarized in the country where you are and have the Thai embassy certify the notarization too.
2. We will apply with the US Commercial Service for a letter certifying that the shareholders of the company are American and so the company is entitled to the right (per Thailand – USA Treaty of Amity) to operate the business in Thailand. – This step usually takes 1-2 weeks for the US Commercial Service to issue the certification letter.
3. We will submit all the papers to the Foreign Business Committee, Ministry of Commerce, to get the Foreign Business Certificate. – It usually takes 3-4 weeks for the certificate to be issued. Please note that the director who will be responsible for Thailand operation has to have a non-immigrant business visa to enter Thailand and we will need the copy of his visa.
4. We will register the new company into the Thai VAT system. – We need only one day, but maybe a few more days for you to provide the necessary documents from the landlord.
5. We will register the company and its employees into the social security system. – We need one day for the registration and a few days to gather the employees’ information.
6. Get a work permit for an authorized American director so that he can be authorized signatory for the bank accounts and he can sign any papers to bind the company. – This takes 10 days.

IMPORTANT POINT:

You can use your US company (if its majority shareholders and directors are American) to do business in Thailand without setting up a new company in Thailand and  that means we can skip step 1 and save on the related professional fee and government fees. If you choose to go that route, we will need to draft an affidavit and a power of attorney for you and you will need to have those documents and the company’s corporate documents notarized before we can start step 2. This will add a few days to the whole process.

Also if you choose to register a new company (step 1), but want your US company to be one of the shareholders, we will need to draft an affidavit for your US company and you will need to have the US company’s documents certified by the US Department of State, which will add a few weeks to the whole process.

Below is the schedule of government fees involved in setting up a Treaty of Amity company.

Contact ThaiLawyers for setting up a Treaty of Amity company.