Published by ChinaMNC · Putian

Putian Company Registration: Documents, Steps and Practical Timeline

A practical guide for foreign founders setting up a foreign-invested company in Putian, Fujian: required documents, the registration sequence, business scope drafting, registered address options, and the delays that most often slow applications down.

Putian is a prefecture-level city on the coast of Fujian, best known commercially for its footwear, apparel, and craft industries and for a large diaspora trading network. For a foreign founder, it is a workable but not automatic place to incorporate: the process is national in structure, administered locally through the Putian Municipal Administration for Market Regulation and the local commerce authority, and the practical speed depends heavily on how well your paperwork is prepared before you submit.

This article walks through the documents you will need, the order of steps, how to handle business scope and registered address, and where applications commonly stall. It is written for founders establishing a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) — the most common vehicle for a foreign-owned operating company in China.

First, confirm the vehicle and the approver

Most foreign founders in Putian register a limited liability company with foreign ownership. Under the current foreign investment regime, most sectors fall outside the negative list and are handled as filing rather than case-by-case approval, but the foreign investment information reporting still has to be completed through the national foreign investment system. Two practical consequences follow.

Sector matters. Check your intended activities against the national negative list for foreign investment before you draft anything. If your activity is restricted, expect extra requirements; if prohibited, the company cannot be registered for that scope at all.
Two authorities, two workstreams. The market regulation bureau handles the business licence. The commerce side handles foreign investment information reporting. These run in parallel but are not the same submission.

Core documents for a foreign-owned company

Prepare these in Chinese, or in English with certified Chinese translations where the local window requires it. Requirements can vary slightly by district and by the officer reviewing the file, so confirm the current checklist with your local agent or the Putian market regulation window before submitting.

Corporate and identity documents

Foreign investor documents. For a corporate shareholder: certificate of incorporation, articles or equivalent, and a register of directors or beneficial owners, typically notarised and legalised (or apostilled where the Hague Apostille Convention applies to the issuing jurisdiction). For an individual shareholder: passport copy, usually notarised.
Legal representative. Passport copy and a photograph; the legal representative can be foreign or Chinese, but must be reachable for signature and, in practice, for the bank account opening.
Directors, supervisor and general manager. Identity documents and appointment details. A small company still needs a supervisor who is not the legal representative or a concurrent director in the same company.
Proof of address of the foreign investor. A recent utility bill, bank statement, or registry extract showing the registered office.

Company formation documents

Articles of association (公司章程), signed by the investor or its authorised representative.
Name pre-approval result for the Chinese company name, in the format 莆田 + 字号 + 行业 + 有限公司.
Registered address documents: lease agreement and the landlord's property certificate or a permitted-use certificate. If you use a serviced or incubator address, the provider supplies an address-use commitment letter.
Business scope wording consistent with the negative list and with the local catalogue of standard scope items.
Foreign investment information report content: investor background, ultimate beneficial owner, actual controller, and intended investment amount.
Capital and term commitments: registered capital amount, currency, contribution schedule, and the intended source of funds.

The registration sequence in Putian

The order below reflects how the workstreams usually interlock. Skipping a step tends to produce a rejection rather than a faster file.

Step 1 — Name pre-approval. Submit proposed Chinese names through the online enterprise registration system. Choose a distinctive 字号; generic or descriptive names are frequently refused.
Step 2 — Address secured. Sign the lease and obtain the property documents. The address must be commercially usable and match the scope you intend.
Step 3 — Drafting. Articles, scope, capital schedule, and the foreign investment report content prepared together so they do not contradict each other.
Step 4 — Business licence submission. File with the Putian market regulation system, upload notarised and legalised investor documents, and wait for review. Expect requests to correct wording rather than outright refusal.
Step 5 — Licence issued and seals carved. Collect the business licence, then have the company seal, financial seal, legal representative seal, and contract seal made at an approved carving point with the required filing.
Step 6 — Foreign investment information reporting. Complete the reporting through the national system, typically handled alongside or shortly after licence issuance.
Step 7 — Bank account and foreign exchange. Open the basic RMB account and, if needed, a foreign currency capital account. This is where the legal representative's physical presence and document consistency matter most.
Step 8 — Tax and social insurance registration. Register with the tax authority, sign the tripartite tax-payment agreement with the bank, and set up payroll and social insurance obligations if you hire.
Step 9 — Post-licence items. Customs registration if you import or export; food, cosmetics, or other sector licences if applicable; and trademark filing if brand protection matters to you.

Business scope: how to draft it

The scope is not a marketing statement. It defines what the company may invoice and what licences it needs. Use the standard wording items in the national scope catalogue where possible — for example, goods wholesale and retail, import and export of goods, supply chain management, technology development and consulting, or e-commerce platform operation — and add only what you can support with the address, capital, and any required permits.

Two practical points. First, if your activity needs a pre-licence, such as certain food or hazardous goods categories, the scope must reflect it and the permit must be obtained before related operations begin. Second, keep the scope broad enough to cover your real revenue lines but not so broad that the reviewer asks you to justify activities you do not operate.

Registered address: the most common friction point

Putian offers conventional office space, industrial park addresses, and serviced or incubator addresses. A few rules of thumb:

The address must match the activity. Warehousing or light assembly needs a property approved for that use, not a desk in an office tower.
Landlords must provide the property ownership certificate and a lease that the bureau accepts. Missing or inconsistent property documents are a frequent reason for refusal.
Government-backed industrial parks and incubators can be smoother because they are used to the paperwork, but confirm the address is registered for company formation and that the park can issue the required commitment letters.
Do not assume a virtual address is accepted for every scope. Ask before paying.

Timeline: what to expect

A clean, well-prepared WFOE file can move through name approval and licence issuance in a matter of weeks. Realistically, founders should plan for one to three months from the start of document preparation to a usable bank account, and longer if investor documents need notarisation and legalisation abroad, which alone can take weeks depending on the jurisdiction and courier routes.

The bank stage is often the longest tail. Account opening is not part of the licence application, and banks apply their own onboarding checks on the legal representative, beneficial owners, and business substance.

Delays founders should plan around

Notarisation and legalisation of investor documents. Start this first; it is outside anyone's control in Putian.
Translation errors and inconsistent names. The investor's name must appear identically across notarised documents, the articles, and the licence application.
Scope and negative-list mismatches. A restricted activity submitted as a general one will be returned.
Address paperwork gaps. Missing property certificates or leases signed by someone without authority to lease.
Legal representative availability. If the legal representative is abroad, bank opening and some signatures become complicated. Plan travel or a reliable power of attorney arrangement.
Capital schedule realism. Very long contribution periods or implausible capital figures invite questions.

A local registered agent or law firm familiar with the Putian window is worth the cost for a first-time founder, mainly because the corrections happen faster when someone knows which wording the reviewer expects.

This article is general information for founders and is not legal, tax, or accounting advice. Requirements and local practice change; confirm the current checklist with the Putian market regulation authority or a qualified local adviser before filing.