A foreign investor setting up a Thai company in Ayutthaya — where do you start?

What the enquirer needs to know is “A foreign investor setting up a Thai company in Ayutthaya”, so it flags what usually causes documents like this to be rejected before summarising the general practice. If multiple certified sets are needed, order them all in the first round to avoid re-queuing. With a fixed filing date, count backwards from it and book each certification step in reverse. High-resolution photos of seals and signatures help when the destination asks for re-verification. Keep a copy of every source document plus the receipt or docket from each step. Licensing turns on eligibility conditions that must be proved with that authority's own documents. Most licences carry an expiry date, so plan renewal ahead of the deadline. The specifics here are location: Ayutthaya, and those decide which translation and certification level applies. The terms that frame this page are foreign · investor · setting · Thai. The biggest risk in cases like this is doing the certification steps out of order, which forces a restart. Check first whether the issuing office of the source document is one the destination recognises. Before starting, ask in advance which category of certified translator the destination accepts, then plan the timeline so certification finishes before the real filing deadline, then keep a digital copy of every page, including seals and signatures. After filing, follow up on the cycle the office states rather than waiting past the deadline. Company formation in Thailand runs under the Civil and Commercial Code for partnerships and private limited companies, and the Public Limited Companies Act B.E. 2535 for public companies. The registrar is the Department of Business Development (DBD) at the Ministry of Commerce, which issues the company affidavit. When a foreign counterparty or authority asks for proof of existence, use the registrar-issued affidavit rather than a copy the company printed itself. A Thai corporate document used overseas is normally translated in full — including seals and signatures — then the translation is certified by the Legalisation Division, Department of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and finally by the destination country's embassy or consulate where that country requires it. Thailand is not a party to the 1961 Apostille Convention, so no apostille is issued for Thai documents. ILC handles the document side: translation, certification of the translation, assembling the set against the authority's checklist, and coordinating the MFA and embassy steps. ILC is not counsel of record for a licence application, gives no legal ruling, and cannot guarantee how a licensing authority will decide. Cost and lead time depend on page count, target language, how many certified sets are required and the steps the receiving authority sets, so every file is quoted before work starts. Send scans of every page together with the checklist the licensing authority gave you, via LINE @NAATI, call +66 80-557-8887 or email ilc@thainotary.co.th.

ปรึกษาฟรี — LINE @NAATI · โทร 080-5578887 · อีเมล ilc@thainotary.co.th