The three lists
| List | Covers | Foreign majority? |
|---|---|---|
| List 1 | Land trading, farming, media and other protected sectors | Never |
| List 2 | Activities touching national security, culture or natural resources | Only with Cabinet approval; rare |
| List 3 | Most services, including tourism, restaurants, real estate brokerage and many retail activities | Only with a Foreign Business Licence, BOI promotion or a treaty |
Activities not on any list, such as manufacturing for export, are open to foreign majority ownership.
The lawful routes to majority ownership
- BOI promotion: promoted activities (technology, manufacturing, some services) can be 100% foreign-owned, with tax holidays. See BOI.
- Foreign Business Licence: a licence for a List 3 activity, granted case by case, with minimum capital of 3 million THB.
- US Treaty of Amity: US citizens and US-controlled companies can own a majority in most List 3 activities.
- Free trade agreements: some agreements give limited rights to companies from certain countries.
The nominee problem
A genuine Thai partner who invests their own money and shares the risk is lawful. If your structure only works because a partner never invested, have a licensed Thai lawyer restructure it the legal way now.
Putting Thai friends or staff on the share register to reach 51%, with your money behind them, is illegal. The Department of Business Development is investigating tens of thousands of companies in tourism, property, hotels and e-commerce, and new registration checks took effect on 1 January 2026. Penalties include fines, prison and loss of the business.