VietNamNet Bridge - After spending two hours on a flight from HCMC, plus 30 minutes on entry procedures, a group of Vietnamese, including two business owners and investors, landed in Singapore recently to complete business registration procedures.

It took four hours to register a business in Singapore

At 11 am on Monday, they turned up at a business registration service company and were asked to fill in documents shown by an officer named Lizzie. It took only a short time because the information required was simple. 

However, trouble occurred when declaring information about the owners of businesses, because the addresses on the bank accounts did not match the addresses of the business owners. They then had to make many calls to Vietnam to fix the problem.

At about 2 pm, the declaration was completed. Each business was required to transfer 1,199 Singapore dollars in cash to the service company. 

At 6 pm, Lizzie sent an email informing the two businesses that they had been established. 

The growing tendency of registering businesses in Singapore is not good for Vietnam. The State loses a source of revenue from the businesses, while an ecosystem for the Vietnamese business community cannot be created.

It took only four hours to set up a business in Singapore.

NTTN, one of the two business owners, was surprised about the speed, though she had been previously informed about the simple procedures.

Lizzie said last week she completed business registration procedures for a company with a Vietnamese owner. The number of such businesspeople has been increasing in the last year. 

Lizzie’s company is just one of the many companies that provide business registration service to foreigners. Under Singaporean law, foreigners must register business through service companies.

Ho Trong Lai from Waterstone Capital Partners, a consultancy firm, noted that more Vietnamese are choosing to set up their business in Singapore.

The legal framework in the country is transparent, while administrative agencies are always supportive, she said. 

Anyone can set up business with the minimum required capital of 1 Singapore dollar, while corporate income tax in the country is much lower than in Vietnam.

However, the more important reason is that Singaporean legal entities find it easier to access clients in Asia.

Meanwhile, an IT engineer in Hanoi noted that Singapore is the best choice for FinTech startups. The businesses can raise funds through an ICO (initial coin offering) there as Singaporean laws do not prohibit this.

Lai said the growing tendency of registering businesses in Singapore is not good for Vietnam. The State loses a source of revenue from the businesses, while an ecosystem for the Vietnamese business community cannot be created.