Clarify what evidence is needed before paying for an extensive exercise. The purpose is an accurate duty account, not producing a favourable percentage.
Define the evidence question first
Ask whether existing records and explanations can address the role. Separate professional review and official charges from business-analysis costs. A costly report does not establish eligibility if its assumptions do not match actual work.
Companies budget the petition fee and forget the evidence: translations, corporate-record retrieval, premises costs that must exist before filing, and the extension petition a year later. Keep client-travel costs distinct from official immigration charges and avoid treating an expensive itinerary as evidence that routine work has become managerial. Legal fees for a new-office petition are usually higher than for a transfer to an established subsidiary, since the business plan and premises evidence take work. Build separate totals for government filing charges, professional services, premises, payroll, and operating expenses, with evidence showing what each outlay supports. The larger and less predictable expense is producing the corporate evidence that a small company has never previously had to assemble. Confirm current petition amounts on the USCIS fee schedule, then budget separately for the corporate evidence the petition demands, which for a small or newly acquired U.S. entity is often the largest and least anticipated expense.