BOI Applications in Thailand.

What BOI promotion is actually for

The Board of Investment promotes activities the country wants more of. For a foreign-owned business the attraction is usually not the tax holiday people talk about first, but the ownership position: promotion is one of the lawful routes past the foreign ownership restrictions that otherwise apply.

That reframing matters when deciding whether to apply. A business chasing an incentive it may not qualify for is a different proposition from a business that needs a route to majority foreign ownership and finds that promotion provides one.

The threshold question is always the activity. Promotion attaches to specific promoted activities on the Board's own list, and no amount of good drafting turns an unpromoted activity into a promoted one. Working out honestly whether the business fits, before anything is filed, is the single most valuable early step.

What the legal work involves

The application is a project document rather than a form. It has to describe the activity in the terms the Board uses, set out the investment, the technology or processes involved, the employment plan, and how the project meets the criteria for the category it is applying under. Most rejections and most delays come from a mismatch between how a business describes itself commercially and how the promoted activity is defined.

A lawyer's contribution is largely in that translation, and in the sequencing. Promotion, incorporation, capital, work permits and visas are connected, and doing them in the wrong order creates avoidable problems. Our guide to BOI promotion covers the incentive side in more depth.

After approval the work changes shape. Promotion comes with conditions, and conditions come with reporting. The certificate has to be maintained rather than filed away, which is where promotion overlaps with ordinary corporate compliance.

The employment side is the part most often underestimated. Promotion affects how foreign staff are brought in, which connects directly to the work permit process and to the BOI visa route. Companies that plan the entity and ignore the people usually discover the gap at the worst moment.

And none of it starts without an entity: company registration is the practical first step, and it is far cheaper to structure correctly than to restructure. For the wider practice, corporate lawyers in Thailand handle promotion alongside licensing and structure.

When it is worth paying for help

Where the activity's fit with a promoted category is genuinely arguable, because that is where expertise earns its money. Where the ownership route matters more than the incentives, because the choice between promotion, a licence and a treaty right is a structural decision with long consequences. And where the business will employ foreign staff, because the sequencing gets complicated.

It is worth less where the activity clearly does not qualify. A firm that encourages an application in that situation is selling hours.

Fees are set by each firm and are usually a fixed fee for the application with hourly work for anything unpredictable around it. No credible source publishes professional fee ranges for this work, so compare written quotes rather than relying on any figure you find online.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Eligibility depends on the specific activity and project, so speak with a qualified professional about your own business.