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Old 06-11-2013, 02:23 PM
 
Location: Land of the Free*
166 posts, read 275,766 times
Reputation: 152

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I think it's Hong Kong. I've heard Singapore may give HK a run for its money. YMMV. In my case (single, not much money ~20K in savings, very low proficiency in an Asian language, not many "business connections") HK just made a lot more sense. I think it can make sense even if you're the opposite of me (married, wealthy, more established, lots of connections, etc...)

After researching this over the last month, it came down to the following factors:

1. Very little government red-tape. From registering your company to opening a bank account to the low yearly maintenance fees and taxes, it is surprisingly quick and easy to start a company in HK.

2. Foreigners are allowed to 100% own the company. In Asia, only one other country allows this: Singapore.

3. Strong IP and trademark protection laws. HK law is derivative of British trade and commerce laws, not Chinese ones. Singapore is also quite strong in their IP/trademark laws.

4. 1st-class infrastructure. HK is definitely not a 3rd world country. It offers pretty much all of the facilities/amenities of the US/Western world plus their own unique twist on things. I'm especially fond of the banks: I use HSBC, which does this cool thing where if I'm paid in, say, Argentinian pesos, the bank will hold that currency in pesos until I tell them to exchange it or otherwise. HK is also quite safe and while very few people speak English well, enough things are written in English for you to get around.

5. Taxes are very low. Corporate tax rates are around 15% (compared to the US where it can go up to 40%), individual tax rates are 15%, and any profits derived from outside of HK is tax-free. This is a great benefit for pretty much everybody expect Americans since only the US continues to tax its expats on income earned abroad

6. Talent pool is increasingly Western-educated and ambitious. Maybe this is due to the predominantly-expat circles I've mingled in, but there are tons of smart, educated, English-speaking people in HK. I don't know how many ex-Ivy-League-turned-investment-bankers I meet here who are now running their own media/finance/entertainment/whatever companies.

7. You don't need a lot of money to get started. Countries like Korea, Japan, China, and Thailand have some restriction in place that makes getting started prohibitively difficult for many people. For example, you have to have a minimum investment of $100,000 in some countries in order to qualify for a visa that lets you start a company. OR, you have to be married to a native of the country. OR, you need to have parents who were from that country. OR... and the list goes on and on. The minimum is extremely low in HK and there are no ridiculous restrictions in place either.

8. I think it's naive to just blurt out that Asia is going to be the future and that's why everybody should move there. Partially because it's not totally true. But if you can't break into the field you want in the US because it's oversaturated/downsizing/insert-some-other-excuse-here, then the East may provide an excellent opportunity to at least get your feet wet and gain some experience. Companies in Asia were way more willing to take a chance with me, and I think that my Western education and speaking abilities had a lot to do with it. And I'll take it.
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Old 07-23-2018, 01:26 AM
 
5,490 posts, read 13,863,900 times
Reputation: 4047
Entrepreneurial anti chains multinationals inviting easy. Welcome to Saigon Vietnam. Quite favorable impeding too much obstacles. Above average in entire practical outlook. If you want extra, there is Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Jakarta Indonesia, Seoul South Korea, Busan South Korea, Taipei Taiwan, Shanghai China, Mumbai India, Delhi India, Kyoto Japan, Hong Kong.
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Old 07-25-2018, 01:01 AM
 
Location: Jakarta
67 posts, read 38,999 times
Reputation: 85
In Indonesia, Foreigners are allowed to start a foreign owned company(Penanaman Modal Asing) with a minimum ~$190,000
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