Filing the registration forms is the short part of setting up a Thai company. The decisions written into those forms are not: who holds how many shares, whether the company becomes a “foreigner” under the Foreign Business Act, how much capital it needs, and who may sign for it. We prepare each of these with you before anything is filed.
Updated 4 October 2026 · Prepared by Eksiam Chaisorn, corporate legal consultant, Eksiam & Partners Co., Ltd., Bangkok
Our company registration service in Thailand costs from ฿9,900 to ฿79,000, depending on whether you need the filing only or also the shareholder structure, foreign-ownership review, and governing documents. Government registration fees and stamp duty are paid to the authorities separately. Once the documents are complete, the filing itself takes 1–3 business days; the whole process takes about 5–10 business days for Package A, 2–4 weeks for the structuring packages, and 4–8 weeks for Package F, which is designed for companies with foreign shareholders or plans to apply for BOI promotion.
Yes. The Civil and Commercial Code does not restrict the nationality of the people who form a limited company. Section 1097 provides that “any two or more persons may, by subscribing their names to a memorandum and otherwise complying with the provisions of this Code, promote and form a limited company.”1 The real question for a foreign founder is a different statute: the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542 (1999), which decides whether the new company itself counts as a “foreigner” and, if so, which businesses it may carry on.
The line is “at least one half”. A company in which foreigners hold 49 percent of the registered capital is not a foreigner under the Act; at exactly 50 percent it already is. The count includes shares held through another Thai company that is itself a foreigner, and the Thai Supreme Court looks at the money actually invested, not only at the shareholder register. In Supreme Court Judgment No. 2252/2560 (2017), a company registered in the British Virgin Islands held less than half of a Thai company’s shares on paper, but had provided more than half of the real investment; the Court treated it as a foreigner carrying on the land-trading business on List One.7
Whether a foreign-owned company may carry on a particular business then depends on the three lists annexed to the Act (Section 8):3
Two further routes replace the license with a certificate: a business promoted by the Board of Investment (BOI) or permitted under the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand law may obtain a certificate under Section 12, and American companies may rely on the Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations under Sections 10 and 11.4 Minimum capital is at least 2 million baht for businesses that need no license and at least 3 million baht for licensed businesses, as set by the Ministerial Regulation on minimum capital B.E. 2562 (2019).5 Our Thai-language analysis of these rules, with the statutory text and Supreme Court judgments, is at ต่างชาติถือหุ้นบริษัทไทยได้กี่เปอร์เซ็นต์; an English summary is in Foreign Business Act Thailand. For BOI applications in depth, see the BOI feasibility service of Eksiam Trade & Investment Law.
A 51/49 structure is lawful when the Thai shareholders invest their own money and hold their shares for themselves. It is unlawful when they hold shares on behalf of the foreign investor so that the foreigner can carry on a restricted business while avoiding the Act. Section 36 punishes the Thai nominee and the foreigner who consents with imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of 100,000 to 1,000,000 baht, or both, and the court orders the shareholding to end; under Section 41, where the offender is a juristic person, its directors, partners, or authorized representatives who connived in the offense, or who failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it, face the same penalties.6
The civil consequences can be heavier than the fine. In Supreme Court Judgment No. 5457/2560 (2017), a foreign investor bought an entire Thai company, put Thai nationals on the register as shareholders in name only, and documented the 19,500,000 baht he paid as a loan. When he sued to recover the “loan”, the Supreme Court held that the loan disguised a purchase of the business, that the purchase made to evade the law on foreign business was void under Section 150 of the Civil and Commercial Code, and that money paid in performance of an unlawful obligation could not be recovered under Section 411. In Supreme Court Judgment No. 3618/2566 (2023), the Court confirmed that an order to cease the business and to end the Thai nominees’ shareholding must carry a daily fine for non-compliance, which ran until the company registered its dissolution.7
For these reasons we review who funds each shareholding, what each class of shares carries, and which business the company will actually conduct, before the memorandum of association is drafted. Where a lawful route exists — a business outside the lists, a license, a BOI or treaty certificate, or a genuine Thai co-investor — we set it out in writing with its conditions. Where it does not, we say so.
All our prices are shown below so that you can consider them before contacting us. They are fees for legal services; government registration fees and stamp duty are paid to the authorities directly, and we tell you the actual amount before filing. Each package shows the total you would pay if you bought its items separately. Buying separately costs more because each item must begin with a fresh review of the facts, whereas a package works from one set of facts. If buying individual items suits your company better, we will tell you so.
This assessment sets out scope and fees; it is not legal advice on your specific case.
For companies that are already registered and need only certain items. These are the same prices used to calculate the separate totals above.
A deposit of at least half the fee is paid before work begins; the 45-minute consultation is paid in full in advance. The post-delivery support covers questions about the documents and structure we delivered, without a limit on the number of questions during the stated period. New matters, such as a new contract, a dispute, or a registered change, are quoted to you before any work begins.
The timeline below applies to Packages C to F. Package A skips step 2 and is shorter. Under the Civil and Commercial Code, at least 25 percent of the value of each share must be called up and paid before the directors apply to register the company (Sections 1110 and 1111).1
The work is led by Eksiam Chaisorn, legal consultant and founder and managing director of Eksiam & Partners Co., Ltd. (บริษัท เอกสยาม แอนด์ พาร์ทเนอร์ส จำกัด). The firm has legal consultants, a team of litigation lawyers, and an accounting team: structuring and documents are handled by the legal consultants, and any court proceedings are conducted by the firm’s litigation lawyers. His profile is at eksiamlegal.com/about.html.
Our work focuses on the legal decisions written into the documents. If you already have an advisor who looks after these matters, we recommend consulting them first. If not, we would be glad to be one of the options you consider.
Yes, if the business is not on any of the three lists annexed to the Foreign Business Act, or if the company obtains a Foreign Business License for a List Three business or a certificate under Section 12 through BOI promotion or Industrial Estate Authority permission. The company must bring in minimum capital of at least 2 million baht, or at least 3 million baht for licensed businesses. List Two businesses require at least 40 percent Thai shareholding unless relaxed, and List One businesses have no license route.
Our legal service fees range from ฿9,900 for Package A (filing only) to ฿79,000 for Package F (for companies with foreign co-investors). Government registration fees and stamp duty are paid separately to the authorities. A 45-minute consultation costs ฿4,900 and is credited in full if you choose a package and pay the deposit within 30 days.
The filing takes 1–3 business days once the documents and signatures are complete. The whole process takes about 5–10 business days for Package A, 7–14 business days for Package B, 2–4 weeks for Packages C and D, 3–5 weeks for Package E, and 4–8 weeks for Package F.
No. Holding shares on behalf of a foreigner so that the foreigner can carry on a restricted business while avoiding the Foreign Business Act is an offense under Section 36 for both the Thai nominee and the consenting foreigner. The Thai Supreme Court has also held such an arrangement void, with the money paid not recoverable (Supreme Court Judgment No. 5457/2560). A 51/49 structure is lawful only when the Thai shareholders invest their own money and hold their shares for themselves.
Package F is designed for companies with foreign shareholders or a planned BOI application. It adds a legal opinion on the foreign shareholding permitted under the lists, lawful alternatives such as a Foreign Business License or treaty rights, preparation for a BOI application, and a bilingual Thai–English document set. Package E also includes a foreign-shareholder review and suits joint ventures that do not need the bilingual documents or BOI preparation.
If the business has one principal owner, the structure is already settled, and no foreign-shareholding question arises, Package A may be sufficient, and we will say so in our preliminary assessment. If you already have an advisor who looks after these matters, we recommend consulting them first.
Yes. Structuring and documents are handled by the firm’s legal consultants, and court proceedings are conducted by the firm’s legal team of litigation lawyers.
A short description of the co-founders, their nationalities, and the business is enough for us to suggest a package and a fee range.
Telephone · +66 81 654 5922 · contact@eksiamlegal.com · Consult via LINE