Starting a business in Thailand — company setup for foreigners

Foreigners cannot majority-own most Thai companies without either BOI promotion (specific industries) or the US-Thailand Treaty of Amity. The default path — a Thai Limited Company with 49% foreign shareholding + Thai directors — takes 4–6 weeks and ฿30,000–80,000 depending on registered capital. Setup requires a physical address, VAT registration if turnover exceeds ฿1.8M/year, and a Thai-national managing director. Most Pattaya foreigners work through a Thai lawyer or company-setup service (฿20,000–50,000 handled end-to-end).