Chillers Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 Hi all, I'm the majority shareholder in an Australian company and own a 49% stake of a fresh new Thai company of the same name (that i just set up). The idea is that they work together. I'm on a non-immigrant B Visa and have eaten into most of the initial 90 day "stamp" period. I have no work permit and have no intention of working for another company. Anyway, I have a product which I plan to introduce into the Thai market soon and a rough business plan for some of the services that the company will offer. What I'd like is advice in dealing with the Board of Investment. It's my understanding that they have magic powers which can instantly fix any visa issue, allow me to increase my 49% stake, and (maybe?) help promote my product. I've been loathe to fill out all the forms and attend the BOI interview without being properly prepared. So any BOI success stories or advice you'd like to share with me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous_Dog Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 BoI is pretty good and as a Australian, if your company is capitalized (I thnk) at 5 Million or more, then you can get a better deal that allows you more privilages. Just go to the BoI. They are VERY easy to deal with and VERY helpful. Work out what catagory you want to be in and make a appointment to meet someone from that section. They see people like you every day and WANT your investment money in Thailand. Also Australia/Thai FTA helps you, google it and you'll a lot more information. You WILL find that many of the cheaper companies that establish companies here for you DONT know about the Australian Thai FTA benifits, nor how to get them. So be careful. One other advantage is you get to use the one stop visa shop as a Australian (after you meet requirments) which is SOOOO much easier than going to Sathorn immigration for anything. Best advice, go see the BoI, they don;t bite and are VERY nice! Also IF you meet their requirments, then you can own the company 99.999% yourself (You always have to have some local shareholders, 1 share each) For promotion they aren;t that good, once a month they release a list of companies who've gained BoI status, and sometimes get them a profile. Your much better identifying your end ccustomers, and marketing directly to them. Thailand business is a lot to do with trust, I'd suggest joing some Foreign/Thai (Australia Thai) Chamber of Commerce for networking. The Aussie one is good as it's unlimited good aussie wine first Tuesday (I think) f the month. DONT expect anything from the Aussie embassy or Austrade, they'll charge you for it! DOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gummigut Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 I'll second that the BOI is very friendly. Though, from my experience, they tend to be very narrow with regards to regulations. Having said that though, if you approach them correctly and frame your business in such a way they can buy into it (and they are pre-disposed to help you), they are extremely helpful! I'd say take the time yourself and look at the BOI website. They have a lot of great downloads which describes the BOI. Even if you don't use them, it is time well spent as it gives you a lot of good background info that will be useful in doing business in Thailand. Then you'll be able to have a very productive 'informative' interview with them in preparation of submitting an actual application. <<burp>> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillers Posted February 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2006 Thanks for that gummigut and Nervous Dog, That stuff is really good advice. I got more good advice from the Gullivers' visit. There were numerous questions fired at me about various related topics that I feigned knowledge of. Q: "what are you going to do about..."? A: I would think - What can I say that won't make me look ignorant or stupid? All the cheating on IQ tests I've done to feel good about myself wasn't going to help me here. "Ummm, yeah - I've thought about that and I'm not worried about it yet." was my standard answer - but fear NOT! A mental tally was kept of all the pertinent questions and the topics are now being googled. These may appear in a post soon. Regarding the BOI I may have caused a "Hannibal Lector" (loss of face incident). Halfway through filling out the online forms I got an asp.net error message and I couldn't continue on. Seeing an opportunity to cash in I informed them of the error and offered my company's services to fix it Girlfriend tells me that this may not be the way to do things here. Anyway - I'll post again and let you guys know how things are proceeding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneSoup Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 The BOI is indeed very strict about the eligibility rules. Two big ones: 1) Your activity must be on the list of eligible activities - for links, see bottom of http://www.boi.go.th/english/about/eligible_activities.asp for links to listings, by category 2) You must show intention to make new investment in excess of 1,000,000 baht into capital assets - not including land, or working capital (cash). In other words, you must spend at least 1,000,000 baht on depreciable assets here - and they also allow some rent expenses to be included. You can't get BOI promotion for any investments already made - you msut "trade" new investment fpor any new benefits. Basically - they give your benefits, if you can demonstrate that you will create significant Thai jobs, and spend lots of money on Thai goods. If your intention is to import and sell foreign-made goods in Thailand - you can forget about getting BOI promotional support. They support exports, not imports. Good luck! SS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillers Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Thanks StoneSoup, For the 1,000,000 baht that needs to be spent on depreciable assets here, what sort of timeframe are we talking about? <1 yr, 1 yr, 2 yrs, etc.? Also the willingness to commit to spending a certain amount of money does not necessarily translate to the actual spending of that money. I take it you have to present a business plan that includes the spending of the mill. - not actually presenting the cash up front? Or am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous_Dog Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 1 year from memory, it's also on the web site, They are pretty good , as stone soup said, research before you go in, often the person you meet will become your contact person, so make a good first impression DOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneSoup Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 I'm not sure what type of business activity you will be pursuing, but each activity has a form such as the one at: http://www.boi.go.th/english/download/boi_forms/50/PP_01.pdf Look at Section 3.1 , items 1-4. The total of these must be at least 1,000,000 baht - or the BOI will not accept the application. For some other activities, this section has additional allowable line items. They do require you to submit to them hard evidence documenting this spending - in some cases, before they issue you the BOI Certificate. This may be in the form of signed contracts or purchase orders, as well as receipts. Money sittimng in the bank does NOT count (that is working capital). You can forget about trying to deceive them - they are quite smart - they have subject matter experts in each eligible activity, and they can generally "sniff out" a phony pretty fast. Cheers! SS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillers Posted February 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 Ok - thanks Nervous_Dog and StoneSoup. I'll need to adjust my business plan slightly (maybe gummigut could help me with that?). But I should be able to come up with enough "potential costs" in the first year to cover the mill. lower limit. I wonder, has anyone had any successful experience here (in Thailand that is) getting venture capital? I also need to get a couple of VC/business angel proposals together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous_Dog Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 I've been involved in JV's, non of them that successful. At the moment most "Rich" people are keeping the $ in cash form, I am told by a mate who runs one f the largest money management companies here. Malaysia and Singapore are better. DOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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