I'm currently living in third world country and run a very big online business with one other partner. We wanna move to first world country, open an office and hire some people. I wanted to ask: 1) What would you say an online business has to make on average to be able to afford to open a small office for expanding? Running costs are pretty small. 2) What are the laws around this? How would you go about opening an office for existing business in first world countries? What are the requirements? How would visas work?
You need to decide which locations will work for your products and write a business plan - if it's feasible then you can make a start, if not then start again with another location. Without knowing what you sell or which counties you want to move to it's Impossible to elaborate. On top of the costs of establishing a physical business you have to consider the immigration rules and requirements.
For Western European countries excluding Switzerland and Sweden: You need to generate approximately 4000 €/month to be able to rent a very small office and pay a decent salary plus taxes and social security. A typical salary will be somewhere around 2000 €/month, add 700 €/month employer share of health insurance and other social security contributions. A typical, low-price rent for business space in a larger city will be around 15 €/m² (15 €/11 sq ft). Typical utility costs for a small space will be around 150 €/month, then you need a phone, a cell phone, some other extras ... You will normally not get a visa unless you make a substantial investment and create sustainable jobs for non-relatives. This applies to both, the U.S. and European Union. A "substantial" investment is normally something in the area of a few hundred thousands and up.
Go to Panama: low transaction fees, low taxes, no questions asked about your money and beautiful beaches.
Not to mention why you would need to move to a different country to operate then what was already successful
Maybe they want to move somewhere and are happy to go to wherever they can relocate their business easily?
This would depend on where you are going. Relocating to a first world country would also mean expenses going 10x. What is a profit in a third world country would be nothing in a first world country. In Auckland, New Zealand you would be looking at spending $4000 for your personal use. For having a brick and mortar office, you would burn a lot of money. Getting visa on business basis would require over $100,000 investments.
"1) What would you say an online business has to make on average to be able to afford to open a small office for expanding? Running costs are pretty small." Well first you have to need the office. Just because you can afford it doesn't mean it will benefit you. With an office you are looking at rent, bills, additional salaries from the staff you are going to hire. So I'd want at least 10k usd more gross income coming on account of the office to cover all the additional expenses. As for the laws, I think you should be okay so long as you have a native partner but I am not a lawyer.