Foreign Company Opening Bangkok Office

[DegenFarang]

If a foreign owned Corporation wants to open an office in Bangkok and hire staff, what are the requirements and considerations for them?

Assume the company will sell nothing in Thailand, it will just be outsourcing foreign IT work and hiring Thai employees to do it.

-Do they need to open a Thai company? Can it be 100% foreigner owned?

-Do they pay any taxes to Thailand?

-What permits are needed, if any?

-How can they go about giving work permits to employees who may need them?

Any other thoughts or comments on this would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Edited December 21, 2009 by DegenFarang

[DegenFarang]

Got a private message that said I would need to start a Thai company with 51% Thai ownership. As I replied to this person, I can't see how the large multi-nationals who outsource to Thailand are setup that way. Reuters for instance, or any of the large Japanese companies who have factories here, with headquarters in Japan. Are all of these companies setup with a 51% Thai partner? There has to be some kind of exemption for a foreign owned company who opens up a branch here. What about HSBC bank or McDonalds or Subway etc? All 51% Thai owned for the business they do in Thailand? Seems highly unlikely to me...

[CWMcMurray]

There are exceptions.... you should check with BOI (Board of Investment), but in most cases you will need to put in a serious level of investment to qualify for BOI approval.

I am sure others will follow with some additional information on this...