Does anyone have recent experience or information on setting up a company in Laos? What procedures, costs, time frame...? Does anyone know of any decent Laos-related blogs?

Thanx

How about we move this over to the SE Asia forum?

depend on what you want to set up, but if you invest 500.000Usd in Laos you can own land to build your house on it.

Laos is in many ways very easy if want to set up business the have now even special 1 counter for it to handle all the paperwork.

I would say get a trip to Vientiane and check all. In many ways all much more easy then in Thailand.

Have only helped to set up an NGO here, & observed oithers doing same. Ours has taken 18 months so far, & we got the great news last month that our application "only has to go through three more government departments".

Another friend has been waiting for 6 years for approval of his NGO.

In general (as you may have inferred), Laos is bureaucracy a-go-go. Everything that requires government approval takes forever, and the people you are dealing with are not competent as a rule.

Some stay away because they just don't want that ordeal. Others are more patient, or perhaps younger.

I met a grey-haired Lao man of 70 recently. He's started an NGO, but is still waiting for registration. I asked him how long he'd been waiting. "Since before I had grey hair," he said.

Many other things about Laos are great BTW: in Songkran (Pi Mai) people were asking my permission before chucking water over me, for instance. Vientiane is prettier than any Thai city, & more clean & orderly. Driving is much saner. (Etc.)

Have only helped to set up an NGO here, & observed oithers doing same. Ours has taken 18 months so far, & we got the great news last month that our application "only has to go through three more government departments".

Another friend has been waiting for 6 years for approval of his NGO.

In general (as you may have inferred), Laos is bureaucracy a-go-go. Everything that requires government approval takes forever, and the people you are dealing with are not competent as a rule.

Some stay away because they just don't want that ordeal. Others are more patient, or perhaps younger.

I met a grey-haired Lao man of 70 recently. He's started an NGO, but is still waiting for registration. I asked him how long he'd been waiting. "Since before I had grey hair," he said.

Many other things about Laos are great BTW: in Songkran (Pi Mai) people were asking my permission before chucking water over me, for instance. Vientiane is prettier than any Thai city, & more clean & orderly. Driving is much saner. (Etc.)

To get it done sooner ( a couple of months ), you have to spend some $$. People I met in the past spent close to 1 grand. It was an easy route for them to get long term visas.

I have a few businesses in Lao and would say don't do it. Laos let's people in easy but can get rid of us just as well.

Find a good fixer or lao partner, and setting up businesses will be easier then NGO's because of lao laws.

Good lao related blog:

http://laovoices.com

Thanks for all of your replies guys, much appreciated!

Thanks for all of your replies guys, much appreciated!

depend on what you want to set up, but if you invest 500.000Usd in Laos you can own land to build your house on it.

Laos is in many ways very easy if want to set up business the have now even special 1 counter for it to handle all the paperwork.

I would say get a trip to Vientiane and check all. In many ways all much more easy then in Thailand.

5OO,OOO USD To invest in Laos ??? You cannot own land as a foreigner.

Please inform me where this special counter is and who told you it was very easy?

In response to the OP, it very much depends on what business you want to set up.

Time frame - let's just say "bring a good book"

It's not all negative though. Get a Laotian who you trust to jump through all the hoops for you.

Good luck