Guides
WFOE Registration in China: A Realistic Timeline
What to expect week by week when incorporating a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise— from name pre-approval to business license and post-licence setup.
Most teams underestimate how much parallel work (translations, notarisations, lease paperwork) sits alongside government filings. A typical consultancy or trading WFOE in a tier-one city often lands between 6 and 10 weeks from signed engagement to business license, assuming documents arrive complete and banking does not stall.
Before you file
Reserve the Chinese name, confirm the scope of business matches what you will actually invoice for, and line up a registered address. Gaps here are the main cause of restart cycles at the AMR (market regulation bureau).
After the license
Plan for chops, tax tier registration, and bank account opening as a second track—they rarely finish on the same day as the license. If you hire before the account is ready, payroll and social insurance timelines need to be aligned with your HR calendar.
When you are ready to map this to your entity, book a free consultation and we will give you a date-backed plan for your city and industry.