Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the branch office setup or representative office setup. As we have discussed in many other videos, we do handle a lot of corporate law here in the firm, primarily for SMEs although we are starting to move into bigger operations as time has gone on.

Now there are varying ways - as they say back in Kansas, there are a million ways to skin a cat - there are varying ways to set up a corporate presence here in Thailand as well as do business here in the Kingdom. And again, different sort of corporate setups, different sort of business activities may actually dictate different types of corporate structures. And Representative Offices as well as Branch Offices can be beneficial in that regard. Now that stated, they may not be the end all be all. What are we talking about? 

Well as I have discussed in other videos, the Rep Office proved to be kind of problematic some years back as it regarded Work Permit issuances; we discussed that at length. Depending on your position in a Representative Office, you may or may not need a Work Permit. That may or may not actually cause you more problems as a result of not needing a Work Permit. Then on top of that, you look at the difference between the Representative Office and the Branch Office which again different type of legal structure, different type of legal consequences, different type of legal features. Branch Offices are sometimes utilized by corporations looking to set up in Thailand to actively engage in business whereas Rep Offices are a little bit more passive in nature. Now again the underlying business activity that one is looking to undertake in Thailand is going to dictate what's the optimal structure including the notion that might not be either of these structures. It might not be Representative Office, it might not be Branch Office. You may be setting up a full Corporation here in Thailand. It may work in your situation that there may need to be some kind of joint venture or partnership set up. Again it depends on the underlying facts of the given case.

That being stated those who find themselves a bit overwhelmed by all of this corporate information, it may not be a terrible idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.