Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing incorporation of a business in Thailand. We are also discussing certification of said company under what is called the US-Thai Treaty of Amity. For those who are unaware, we have done a number of videos on this channel regarding the Amity Treaty. You just go to the search function and type in AMITY, you will find a number of videos on that topic.

Long story short, those American businesses or American entrepreneurs who wish to do business in Thailand can benefit from the terms of the Treaty insofar as they can gain "National treatment" which basically allows one to do business in Thailand notwithstanding the provisions of the Foreign Business Act. Other types of companies generally speaking have to have 51%/49% Thai shareholding or they have to have some sort of structure or sponsorship under for example the BOI, Board of Investment in order to be foreign owned. The Amity Treaty, for Americans they are a streamlined benefit that Americans can gain, especially in an SME context, it is very beneficial to have Amity certification because one can virtually own their business 100%. 

The reason for this video is I find that a lot of folks seem to think they are sort of one and the same thing. They are not. They are two different processes. There is the incorporation of a company if you are incorporating in Thailand or registration of a branch office or a representative office and then there is the actual certification under the Treaty. These are two different processes. They are dealt with in two different ways. They kind of overlap in how they work but it should not be viewed as the same thing. You can incorporate a company without having it Treaty certified and that is a possibility; one can do that.

So the thing to take away from this video just to provide some clarification, Amity Certification is in a way an integral part of one of these companies coming into being but it is not part of every process for incorporating a company because not every company in Thailand is American and utilizes certification under the Treaty. So just to clarify, they are not the same thing. Incorporation is one thing, Amity certification is in a sense something else.