Foreigners can own a Philippine company outright — up to 100% — in most lines of business. But "most" is doing real work in that sentence, and the right to full ownership is tied to a capital rule that surprises a lot of founders. Two gates decide whether you can own all of your company and how much you have to put in. Here's how they work.
Gate one: is your sector open?
The first question isn't about money — it's about what you do. The Foreign Investment Negative List (FINL) names the activities where foreign ownership is limited or barred: mass media, certain professions, small-scale mining, and others. If your business sits on the list, the cap there governs, full stop.
For the large space outside the list — IT, software, consulting, outsourcing, most service and trading activities — 100% foreign ownership is allowed. That's where the second gate comes in.
Gate two: the $200,000 rule
A company that serves the domestic market and is more than 40% foreign-owned generally has to put in at least US$200,000 of paid-in capital. This is the rule people mean when they talk about the cost of foreign ownership. It exists to reserve smaller domestic businesses for Filipino nationals — the capital floor is what you clear to own a domestic-market company as a foreigner.
| Your situation | Minimum paid-in capital |
|---|---|
| Domestic-market enterprise, >40% foreign-owned | US$200,000 |
| Same, but with advanced technology or 50+ employees | US$100,000 |
| Export enterprise (most output sold abroad) | No FIA minimum |
Tip
The $200,000 is the default, not a wall. Two routes cut it in half — and one route removes it entirely. Which one fits depends on what your business does, not on negotiation.
The two ways down to $100,000
The capital requirement drops to US$100,000 if your enterprise either:
- Uses advanced technology, as certified by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), or
- Employs at least 50 direct employees, as certified by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Either certificate gets you the lower floor. For a tech company or a sizeable operation, this is often the realistic number rather than the headline $200,000.
The export exemption
The biggest exception is for export enterprises. If your company sells most of its output abroad — the test is generally at least 60% for export — the $200,000 domestic-market rule doesn't apply, and you can be 100% foreign-owned with far less capital. This is why so many BPO, IT, and manufacturing-for-export operations are structured as export enterprises: the ownership is full and the capital barrier largely falls away.
The framework behind all of this is the Foreign Investments Act (Republic Act No. 7042), as amended over the years — most recently by RA 11647. The headline to carry: check the negative list first, then figure out which capital floor your business model lands on.
Key takeaways
- 100% foreign ownership is allowed in most sectors — but the Foreign Investment Negative List governs the restricted ones.
- A domestic-market company that's over 40% foreign-owned generally needs US$200,000 in paid-in capital.
- That drops to US$100,000 with a DOST advanced-technology certificate or 50+ direct employees (DOLE-certified).
- Export enterprises (roughly 60%+ of output exported) are exempt from the $200,000 floor.
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