Practical guides and regulatory updates on BOI promotion, company setup, foreign ownership, industrial land and Free Zones in Thailand, written by our in-house team for foreign investors.
Thailand’s border Special Economic Zones (SEZs) cover parts of ten provinces along the borders with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. Investors there can choose between two sets of tax benefits: the BOI’s SEZ incentives, with up to 8 years of…
The BOI grants additional tax incentives to projects in four regional economic corridors: the Northern Economic Corridor (NEC), the Northeastern Economic Corridor (NeEC), the Central-Western Economic Corridor (CWEC) and the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC). Each covers four provinces and targets…
Registering a private limited company in Thailand involves five steps with the Department of Business Development (DBD): name reservation, filing of the Memorandum of Association, the statutory meeting, the registration application, and tax registration. Since 2026, companies with foreign shareholders…
The BOI treats a number of science and technology parks in Thailand as investment promotion zones. A BOI-promoted company that carries out an eligible research or technology activity inside one of these parks can receive incentives on top of its…
The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) oversees a network of 82 industrial estates in 18 provinces. For foreign investors, they offer a rare advantage under Thai law: a foreign company can own the land of its factory outright, without…
To open a business bank account in Thailand, a company must provide its certificate of registration, its list of shareholders, a board resolution authorising the account and naming the signatories, and identity documents for its directors, signatories and main shareholders.…
The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) is the most ambitious special economic zone ever created in Thailand. It covers three provinces on the eastern seaboard, Chachoengsao, Chonburi and Rayong, over about 13,266 km². It is the spearhead of Thailand’s strategy to…
The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) is the government agency in charge of attracting and promoting foreign and domestic investment. For a foreign entrepreneur or investor, BOI promotion is often the most advantageous way to set up legally in Thailand.…
Thailand FastPass is a BOI mechanism that speeds up the permits a large investment project needs between its BOI application and the start of operations. Eight government agencies have committed to cut their approval and licensing timelines by 20% to…
Setting up a company in Thailand as a foreigner is possible, but it is governed by a strict legal framework that limits foreign ownership in many sectors. The Foreign Business Act (FBA) prevents foreigners from holding a majority of a…
Yes, a foreign company can own land in Thailand, but in practice only through two specific legal routes: BOI (Board of Investment) promotion or an IEAT (Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand) industrial estate. Outside these two frameworks, Thai law prohibits…
An IEAT Free Zone is a designated area inside a Thai industrial estate where imported goods are treated as being outside Thai customs territory. In practice, import duties, VAT and excise tax are suspended for as long as the goods…
A BOI-promoted company can hire foreign employees in Thailand, but only under the precise conditions set by BOI Notification Por. 8/2568, issued on 5 June 2025. This regulation replaces the previous rules and introduces three major changes: a Thai workforce…
BOI promotion is one of the two main legal routes for a foreign-owned company to hold land in Thailand, alongside IEAT industrial estates. The right comes with precise limits. Under the rules overhauled in BOI promotion is one of the…