Tag: Can you even own it?

"Foreign" under the Act is a test of who owns the shares, not where the company is managed from or who runs it. A Singapore-owned company is treated the same as a company owned from anywhere else.

A Foreign Business Licence is not one document. List 2 activities need the Minister's approval, List 3 need the Director-General's. Most ordinary services land in List 3.1

Foreign ownership above 49 percent in a restricted business still needs a licence or BOI promotion. That part has not changed.

Company registration went online only from 1 January 2026. Walk-in counters are gone, and foreign applicants face a narrower identity-verification path than Thai nationals.

BOI promotion lets a foreign owner apply for a Foreign Business Certificate instead of a Foreign Business Licence, which is how a services company reaches 100 percent foreign ownership inside its promoted activity.1

A Thai Limited Company needs two shareholders now, not three. The rule changed on 7 February 2023, and at least one widely used Singapore government resource has not caught up.