Everyone asks this early: how much money do I actually need? The frustrating answer is that “minimum capital” means three different figures in Thailand, and almost every applicant we talk to has mixed at least two of them up at some point.
You’ll hear THB1,000,000. You’ll hear THB2,000,000. You’ll hear THB3,000,000.
They sound like the same rule with different zeros, but they’re not. Each number comes from a different law, answers a different question, and applies in a different situation.
The Board of Investment sets one of them. Thai immigration sets another. The Foreign Business Act sets the third.
Get them straight before you budget, and you’ll save yourself a lot of confusion later.
Key Takeaways
- The BOI’s own project minimum is THB1,000,000, excluding land and working capital, unless a higher figure applies to that specific activity.
- THB2,000,000 is a different rule entirely: it’s the paid-up capital a Thai company needs per foreigner it sponsors for a standard work permit.
- THB3,000,000 is a third rule again: the Foreign Business Act minimum per restricted activity a foreign-majority company runs under a Foreign Business License.
- Knowledge-based activities (software, R&D, design) are measured by a minimum annual salary-expense figure instead of the standard capital test.
- New projects must keep debt-to-equity at 3:1 or lower, and projects over THB2,000,000,000 need a feasibility study.
- The application to the BOI itself is free. The real money goes to professional help and ongoing accounting, and that’s the part people underestimate.
The Three Numbers People Mix Up
Ask anyone who’s been through the process and they’ll tell you the same thing: the three-numbers confusion is the single most common question in the founder forums. So let’s separate them once, clearly, and you won’t need to relearn this.
| Figure | What it’s for | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| THB1,000,000 | BOI project minimum investment (excludes land and working capital) | Any project applying for BOI promotion |
| THB2,000,000 | Paid-up capital required per foreigner sponsored for a standard work permit | Thai companies sponsoring a foreign employee outside BOI promotion |
| THB3,000,000 | Foreign Business Act minimum capital per restricted activity | Foreign-majority companies holding a Foreign Business License for a List Two or List Three activity |
A company can clear one of these thresholds and fall well short of another. Meeting the BOI’s THB1,000,000 project minimum doesn’t mean you’ve satisfied the THB2,000,000 work-permit rule or the THB3,000,000 Foreign Business Act rule, and the reverse is just as true.
Treat them as three separate boxes to check, not three steps of the same ladder.
The BOI Project Minimum
Start with the BOI’s own rule, since it’s the one that decides whether your project qualifies for promotion in the first place. A promoted project needs a minimum investment of THB1,000,000, and that figure excludes both land and working capital.
So the BOI isn’t counting the plot your factory sits on or the cash you’ve set aside to run day-to-day operations. It’s counting what you’ve actually committed to the project itself:
- machinery
- equipment
- buildings
- other fixed assets tied to the promoted activity.
That THB1,000,000 is a floor, not a ceiling, and it isn’t the same for every activity. The Board sets a higher minimum, or a different test entirely, for some activities where the nature of the business calls for it, so check the requirement for your specific activity rather than assuming the general figure applies to you. A few real examples from BOI’s activity lists show how far it can swing:
- Contract research organization (activity 2.3.1): either at least THB1,500,000 a year in salaries for Thai research staff, or capital investment of at least THB1,000,000, excluding land, working capital, and vehicles.
- Software or digital-content modification (activity 8.1.2): minimum capital of at least THB1,500,000 a year, measured by the salaries of the extra Thai IT staff you take on after applying.
- Hotel (activity 10.9.1): for a hotel with 100 rooms or more, capital investment of at least THB2,000,000 per room, excluding land and working capital.
- Health rehabilitation center (activity 2.2.2.2): minimum investment capital of at least THB30,000,000, excluding land and working capital.
Good to know: “Excluding land and working capital” does a lot of work in this rule. If your budget is mostly land purchase or operating cash reserves rather than fixed investment, your project can look well-funded on paper while still falling short of the BOI’s actual threshold.
Knowledge-Based Activities Use a Different Test
Not every promoted activity is measured in machinery and buildings.
Software development, R&D, design, and other knowledge-based activities don’t naturally involve much fixed capital. The main cost is people, not equipment. For these activities, the BOI swaps out the capital test for a minimum annual salary-expense threshold instead.
The logic is that a genuine knowledge-based operation shows its commitment through payroll, not through fixed assets on a balance sheet. If you’re planning a services, tech, or R&D project, don’t try to force it into the standard THB1,000,000 capital frame. Confirm the salary-expense threshold for your specific activity code before you finalize a business plan.
Debt-to-Equity and Feasibility Studies
Capital isn’t only a question of how much money goes in. It’s also a question of where it comes from.
The BOI requires new projects to keep their debt-to-equity ratio at 3:1 or lower, so a project can’t be financed almost entirely with borrowed money and a token sliver of shareholder equity.
In practical terms, for every THB3 a project borrows, at least THB1 has to come from equity.
If your project is large, there’s a second checkpoint: any project with an investment value above THB2,000,000,000, again excluding land and working capital, must submit a feasibility study alongside the application. That threshold lines up with how the BOI routes applications internally, since projects at this scale go to the full Board and take longer to review.
If you’re anywhere near that mark, build the feasibility study into your timeline from the start rather than adding it later.
What a BOI Company Actually Costs
The THB1,000,000 is only the BOI’s project minimum. It’s rarely the whole story, because there are extra costs to get a company promoted and running.
The BOI application itself doesn’t charge a filing fee. But almost nobody files it alone, and the real costs sit around that free application, not inside it.
| Cost | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| BOI application filing | Free | No government fee to submit the promotion application itself |
| Professional help (optional) | THB100,000 to THB500,000 | Law firm or consultancy fees for preparing and running the application, varies with project complexity |
| Annual accounting and compliance | THB50,000 to THB150,000 | Ongoing bookkeeping, filings, and e-Monitoring reporting (the BOI’s online compliance system) once you’re operating |
These are typical market ranges from firms doing this work, not fees the BOI itself charges.
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