What DICA registration is required to hire in Myanmar?

What Myanmar law and practice say

The Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) is the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations agency that maintains the Myanmar Companies Online (MyCO) registry under the Myanmar Companies Law 2017. Every employer in Myanmar — whether a Myanmar-owned limited company, a foreign-company branch, a representative office, or a Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC)-permitted enterprise — must be DICA-registered before it can lawfully issue an Employment & Skills Development Law (ESDL) appointment letter.

DICA registration creates the legal employer "hook" needed for every downstream HR registration: an Internal Revenue Department (IRD) corporate tax account and PAYE setup, a township Social Security Board (SSB) employer code, the township labour register, and (where foreign workers are sponsored) the Foreign Workers' Quota allocation.

DICA-registered entity types and what they can do

Process and timeline

1. Choose the entity type based on activity, foreign-ownership share, and tax-incentive needs — 1 week.
2. Reserve the company name on MyCO — 1–3 days.
3. File the incorporation / branch / rep office package on MyCO with constitution, directors, and shareholder details — 1–2 weeks.
4. Receive the DICA registration certificate and the company number.
5. Open the corporate bank account.
6. Register with IRD for company tax + PAYE; obtain the corporate TIN.
7. Register with the township SSB office on or before crossing the 5-employee threshold (within 30 days).
8. Issue ESDL appointment letters and run first payroll.

Foreign-worker specifics

The DICA-registered employer is also the sponsor for any work permit and Stay Permit (see work permit guide). Foreign Workers' Quota headroom is calculated at the DICA-entity level. For SEZ employers, the SEZ Authority operates a parallel registry alongside DICA — both records are kept in sync.

Edge cases

• Pre-DICA hires — illegal; cannot be backdated. Use an EOR until DICA registration is live.
• Representative office hires — only liaison roles; revenue activity will trigger reclassification.
• SEZ enterprise — co-ordinated registration through the SEZ Authority.
• Joint ventures — DICA filings reflect the JV structure; foreign-share threshold influences quota.

Common hiring mistakes

• Issuing offer letters before the DICA certificate is in hand.
• Confusing the IRD TIN with the DICA company number.
• Skipping the SSB employer-code step after DICA registration (see SSB rules).
• Using a representative office to do trading work, then trying to "fix" it with a salary backdate.