Cross-border business advisory · Asia & the Middle East

We don't sell you a structure. We tell you which one you actually need.

Most firms in this market begin at the paperwork — they ask what you want registered, and register it. That transfers every judgement call, and every consequence, back to you. UnionSPACE begins one step earlier.

The problem
The most expensive decisions in Asia are made in the first ninety days — usually by people who didn't know they were making them.
Our position
A services firm does what you instruct. An advisor tells you what to instruct — then implements it, and carries the outcome.
18
Years in Asia
9
Markets
500+
Advisors
25,000+
Businesses guided
8
Working languages
The case for advice

None of these are execution failures. They are advisory failures — decisions made before anyone qualified was asked.

i

A shareholding split chosen for convenience becomes a tax liability three years later.

ii

A visa category chosen for speed quietly disqualifies a founder from holding the directorship the bank requires.

iii

An entity registered in the wrong jurisdiction turns a routine export into a licensing problem.

Where most firms begin
The paperwork. A transaction — priced like one.
Where we begin
The decision. One step earlier, where the judgement lives.

We advise first and implement second — and we do not implement anything we haven't advised on.

How we work

One continuous line — from the decision through to operation.

Four stages, one accountable advisor. You are never handed off to a third party you've never met, and never left to coordinate four vendors yourself.

01 · Diagnose

Diagnose

We start with your commercial objective, not your paperwork. Where the revenue comes from, who holds the equity, who needs to be on the ground, and what happens at exit. The structure follows from the answers.

02 · Advise

Advise

A written recommendation: the structure and jurisdiction, the alternatives we considered, the trade-offs, the compliance you inherit, and the honest risks. In plain language, in your language.

03 · Implement

Implement

Once you've decided, our licensed local teams execute — incorporation, permits, filings, applications. No third party you've never met, no coordinating four vendors yourself.

04 · Sustain

Sustain

Compliance is a calendar, not an event. We hold it: filings, renewals, permit expiries, regulatory change. Your advisor stays the same person across all of it.

We give the advice, then we implement it. There is no gap for a recommendation to fail in, and no one to blame it on.

What makes our advice worth taking

Judgement you can act on — because the people giving it are accountable for what happens next.

On the ground

We are on the ground, not on a call.

Advice about Vietnamese labour law written in London is theory. Ours is written by people who filed something in Hanoi this week.

Accountable

We are accountable for the outcome.

We give the advice, then we implement it. There is no gap for a recommendation to fail in, and no one to blame it on.

Pattern, not crisis

We have seen this before.

Across 18 years and 25,000 businesses, few situations are genuinely novel. What feels like a crisis to a client is usually a known pattern to an advisor who has handled it forty times.

The rarest thing

We say no.

If your intended structure won't survive contact with the regulator, we'll tell you before you fund it — including when the honest answer is that this market isn't right for you yet.

Advisory practices

Four practices. One advisory relationship.

Held together across immigration, structure, tax and trade — in nine markets at once, by one advisor who knows your business without a re-brief.

01

Expat Relocation & Compliance

Getting your people into the market legally, and keeping them there.

  • Visa and work-permit strategy — and what your structure must look like to support it
  • Director, shareholder or employee: which status serves you best, legally and fiscally
  • Local hiring ratios, quota planning and dependant provisions
  • Tax residency, and when relocation changes your personal exposure
  • Long-term residency, investor and retirement pathways; remediation of refused or lapsed permits

"I need a work permit to run my company — but I need the company to get the work permit. Where does this actually start?"

02

Corporate Structuring

The decisions you make once, and live with for a decade.

  • Jurisdiction selection across our nine markets
  • Entity form: subsidiary, branch, representative office, holding company or joint venture
  • Foreign ownership limits, nominee risk and legitimate routes to control
  • Holding structures, regional HQ positioning and treaty considerations
  • Capitalisation, profit repatriation and intercompany flows; restructuring and director liability

"We were advised to use a local nominee shareholder. Is that actually safe?"

03

Market Entry

A recommendation on whether to enter — not only how.

  • Feasibility assessment with a go / no-go / not-yet recommendation
  • Entry mode: distributor, joint venture, licensing, branch or wholly-owned entity
  • Sector licensing — which permits you genuinely need, and which you don't
  • Capital requirement and realistic runway to operational status
  • Phasing, partner due diligence and localisation of pricing, contracts and go-to-market

"Two consultants gave us two different answers on whether we can own 100% of this. Who's right?"

04

Trade Facilitation

Advisory for goods that have to cross a border and clear it.

  • Import and export licensing in each destination market
  • Product classification, HS coding and the duty consequences of getting it wrong
  • Product registration and approvals for controlled categories
  • Rules of origin, preferential tariffs and free-trade-agreement utilisation
  • Documentation, customs compliance, importer-of-record and cross-border invoicing

"Our product is registered at home. What does it take to bring it in here — and how long, really?"

Advised across
Manufacturing & industrial FMCG & consumer goods Technology & software Professional services Food & beverage Healthcare & wellness Logistics & distribution Education
Working with us

Engagement models

For one decision

Advisory Consultation

A scoped session with a senior advisor on a specific decision. You leave with a written recommendation and a clear view of your options — for when one question needs answering properly before you commit capital.

For a market entry

Entry & Structuring Engagement

A full advisory mandate — feasibility, structure design, immigration strategy and implementation roadmap — followed by execution through our licensed local teams. One accountable advisor, from decision through to operation.

For established operations

Retained Advisory

Ongoing counsel: compliance-calendar management, regulatory monitoring, restructuring as you grow, and a named advisor who knows your business without a re-brief.

Where our advisors sit

Nine markets. Local licences. One relationship.

Indonesia
Headquarters
Thailand
Advisory
Malaysia
Advisory
Vietnam
Advisory
Philippines
Advisory
Singapore
Advisory
Hong Kong
Advisory
China
Advisory
U.A.E.
Advisory
Advisory delivered in

English · Bahasa Indonesia · Thai · Mandarin · Tagalog · Russian · Burmese · Kazakh

Regulators are dealt with in their own language, and so are you.

Before you engage us

Questions clients ask first.

Are you a consultancy or a corporate-services firm?

Both, in that order. We advise first and implement second, and we do not implement anything we haven't advised on. The distinction changes who carries the judgement: a services firm does what you instruct; an advisor tells you what to instruct.

We already have lawyers and accountants. What do you add?

Coordination and cross-border judgement. Your counsel answers legal questions within one jurisdiction; your accountant answers fiscal ones. We hold the commercial decision across immigration, structure, tax and trade in nine markets at once — working alongside your existing advisors, not around them.

Do you ever recommend against entering a market?

Regularly. "Not yet" and "not this jurisdiction" are among our most common recommendations — and they save clients more money than anything else we do.

Do you work with companies already established here?

Yes. A significant share of our work is remediation and restructuring for companies set up cheaply and quickly by someone else.

Start with the decision, not the paperwork

Bring the decision you're stuck on. We'll tell you what it actually depends on.

Book an advisory consultation with a senior UnionSPACE advisor. If the honest answer is "not yet," you'll hear that too — before you fund it.