What Is Investment Promotion Certification From the BOI?

The Thai Board of Investment, commonly referred to as the BOI, is a government agency responsible for attracting foreign investment into Thailand through incentives. While it is also now known for being the agency overseeing the new Long-Term Resident (LTR) Visa programme in Thailand, the BOI is also known to ‘promote’ projects.

When a project is promoted by the BOI, they provide you with an investment promotion certificate. This certificate will inform you of your rights and privileges under the promotion scheme as well as your responsibilities. It is important to keep this certificate safe.

Companies promoted by the BOI may receive various tax and non-tax benefits depending on the category under which they are promoted. These incentives may include foreign ownership of the company, the right to own land, permission to bring in foreign workers without having to comply with the standard 4 Thai employees to 1 foreign worker ratio, corporate income tax exemptions, exemption or reduction of import duties on machinery, etc.

The BOI emphasises technology transfer as a reason for the incentives – so that Thai personnel will acquire new skills relating to the project and so the project will contribute to the development of the Thai technology. Hence, receiving investment promotion certification from the BOI also comes with some responsibilities, such as submitting project progress reports to the BOI in February and July of each year, formally notifying the BOI of the commencement of your operations, and so forth. As such, you may consider engaging a law firm for the application for investment promotion and any report submissions to the BOI thereafter.

Eligible activities for investment promotion

The Board of Investment promotes an extensive list of activities, including but not limited to the development of software, digital platforms or digital content; plant factories; the manufacture of eco-friendly chemicals or polymers; hospitals; senior/dependent care centres; and international business centres.

Here, you will find a complete list of activities that you may file your BOI application under.

Assistance with the application for investment promotion certification from the BOI

If you would like assistance with submitting an application for investment promotion to the Thai Board of Investment, you are welcome to get in touch with our Bangkok-based BOI lawyers, who have extensive experience in submitting and seeing through investment promotion applications with the Thai BOI.