Hainan company incorporation (WFOE) refers to incorporate a wholly foreign owned enterprise in Hainan. Hainan’s pillar industries encompass agriculture, tourism, petrochemical industry, electronics and information, and marine bio-pharmaceutical industry. Foreign investors that are going to set up a business in Hainan may be exposed to three major business forms: WFOE (wholly foreign owned enterprise), JV (joint venture), and RO (representative office). In this exposition, Tannet mainly brief on the procedures to establish a WFOE.
Procedure for Setting up a WOFE in Hainan
1. Preliminary approval
The application procedure for setting up a WOFE is not that complicated. The project proposal will be prepared by the foreign investors and submitted directly to local authorities. The foreign investor may appoint a local agent to liaise with the government. To do so, he has to sign an authorization letter stipulating the agent’s scope of services, responsibility and fees.
Generally, the authority will give an official reply within 30 days upon receipt of the proposal and other relevant documents. The approval or rejection letter will be issued to the foreign investor. If a favorable reply is received, the foreign investor can proceed to register the company’s name at the local AIC.
2. Formal approval
After the foreign investor receives a written reply from the relevant government authorities, a formal application supported by all the required documents should be filed with the local Ministry of Commerce at a county, municipal or provincial level. After receiving the formal approval, the foreign investor should apply to the Ministry of Commerce again for an approval certificate by presenting all the necessary documents.
3. Collection of Business License
Upon collection of the approval certificate, an application for a business license has to be filed with the provincial or municipal AIC within 30 days. The local AIC will issue the business license within 10 working days to projects that have passed the examination. Likewise, the date the business license is issued will be considered the official date of the establishment of the enterprise.
After obtaining the business license, the WOFE has to finish up with procedures such as applying for an official seal and enterprise code, opening a bank account, and registering for tax payment and customs declaration with the local public security, technical supervision, taxation, customs, finance, foreign exchange administration, banking, insurance and commodity inspection departments.
Contact Us
If you have further inquires, please do not hesitate to contact Tannet at anytime, anywhere by simply visiting Tannet’s website english.tannet-group.com, or calling Hong Kong hotline at 852-27826888 or China hotline at 86-755-82143422, or emailing to tannet-solution@hotmail.com. You are also welcome to visit our office situated in 16/F, Taiyangdao Bldg 2020, Dongmen Rd South, Luohu, Shenzhen, China.
Previous：Invest in Hainan: One-stop Service for Hainan Company Formation
Next：Hainan Market Research