Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) Registration Process in Shenzhen

If you're thinking of starting a business in Shenzhen, you may find it useful to go through the registration guideline below:

1. Preparation
   1. Company Name
      1. 深圳/深圳市/深圳前海+***+行业+有限公司
         (Shenzhen/ Shenzhen Qianhai/ +***+Industry+ Limited Company)
      2. ***+行业+ (深圳) 有限公司
         (***+Industry+ (Shenzhen) Limited Company)
      3. ***+(深圳)+行业+有限公司
         (***+(Shenzhen) + Industry+ Limited Company)
   2. Registered Address
      1. Find the company's office and use registered address
      2. Virtual address in Qianhai FTZ – 15000 RMB/year
   3. Business scope
      1. Provide your real business scope
   4. Registered capital amount
      1. The minimum registered capital requirement is 5mil RMB. It can be lowered in some cases for foreign invested companies to around 2mil RMB, pending approval.
         *Please note that registered capital does not mean paid up capital.
   5. Shareholders and key management information
      1. A shareholder can be either a natural person or a company
      2. Legal representative (must be a chairman of the board OR general manager of the company, it can be a chairman and a general manager at the same time)
      3. Main controller (must be another person than the CEO, which means at least 2 people are required to set up a company)
      4. It's recommended that the WFOE is owned by a Hong Kong company
2. Required documents
   1. Documents about the investment company with apostilles (ID card, passport or company registration documents). Apostilles must be issued by a local Chinese lawyer.
   2. Bank reference later confirming that the investment company's account has sufficient funds (at least 15% of the registered capital). The bank reference letter should include the following statement: "TO:深圳市前海管理局" (Shenzhen Qianhai Government/ Management Authority)
   3. Due Diligence Documents such as IDs of all members of the management team, copies of their passports signed by the legal representative
   4. Opening the bank account – original of the legal representative passport is required. In most cases, the legal representative does not have to be present at the bank meeting, but it cannot be guaranteed.
   5. Registered address
   6. Registrant has to sign following document
      <<前海注册地址托管协议书>> 3 copies
      (Qianhai registered address agreement)
   7. Application documents: <<企业设立登记 (–照–码) 申请书>> (Application of company establishment) 1 original
      1. Legal documents with apostilles (original + copy)
      2. Bank reference letter (original)
   8. Signature of shareholders agreement (署的备案申报承诺书) Declaration includes details of sources of funds, no. of investments in China
   9. Signature of articles of association 外资企业章程 Article of Association signed and stamped by the lega representative of the investment entity and stamped
   10. Documents of appointment of legal representative, director, controller, and top management team (original of personal documents, signature of legal representative)
   11. Power of attorney (signed by the legal representative)
   12. Proof of experience
   13. Proof of qualification of the top management team members
3. Required time
   1. Once all documents have been submitted, the application will be processed within 30 working days