You may have been working for someone or many different companies for the past 20 years. But quite a few of us must have chosen to take on some freelancer works. That is a great start. But eventually for long term if you are innovative and you believe you can make a difference to the world, you may be tempted to start your own business whether it is in your own country or one of the most common Asia hub Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Company Incorporation: As a foreigner, incorporating your business in Hong Kong is not only a very intelligent decision but is also very cost-effective, straightforward and strategic. Moreover, Hong Kong has always been ranked in the top five of the easiest place to conduct many types of business, according to some reports mentioned by World Bank. It should take about 3-5 days to incorporate/register a Hong Kong based company.
Even for a foreigner who has not been to HK, opening a global/international company bank account would still be relatively easy. Besides, the HK company does not require to have a physical office. A virtual address or business registered address is allowed. Getting a virtual address or business registered address from a company incorporation service is simple and easy.
The thing is that all forms must be completed. To incorporate, your company must have at least one director and one shareholder. You must provide a copy of passport or HKID of the directors and a copy of passport or HKID of the shareholders. i.e. For foreigners, usually you should provide the copy of passport. If you happen to have a HKID (i.e. Hong Kong Identity Document/Card) after staying long enough locally in HK, then you may provide it. You should supply a copy of proof of the residential addresses of the directors and shareholders.
The shareholder may be a natural person, or may be an entity/company. Should the shareholder in this case be an entity, a copy of the registered incorporation documents must be submitted. A locally based Hong Kong company secretary must be provided. This secretary may be a natural person or may be represented by a company. Usually you can get a locally based agent to provide such service i.e. Provide an entity for your company secretary. It is never allowed that when the director and the secretary are the same person.
Capital share that is required when incorporating the company may be as low as HK dollar 1.
When the founder/shareholder is originally from a non-English speaking country, his documents may well be in a different language than English. Make sure all documents submitted are the officially certified translated versions, and the original non-English documents must be presented.
