If you don’t have a business licence in China, you are advised to open an overseas official account.
It is possible to open a domestic account via a locally registered business (the so-called “third-party account”). Essentially, they will use their licence to register for you. The account can be in your brand name, but you won’t be the account owner.
The key difference between the domestic third-party account and the overseas WeChat account is that a foreign company will own the account outright if it opens an overseas account, which will help protect your brand and avoid future conflict.
The functions of the two accounts are very similar, although some non-essential functions have not been activated for overseas accounts, such as a tailored welcome message.
*Currently, the only type of official WeChat account for a foreign business not having a Chinese business licence is the Service Account.