Distinguish destination registration, licence verification, equipment and field travel from immigration preparation. Ask the employer what it provides and what requires reimbursement approval. Verify current regulatory and government charges rather than transferring an estimate from another jurisdiction.
Check the conditions attached to reimbursement
Confirm who pays when a field assignment is postponed or replaced. A client contract may allocate costs between companies without promising reimbursement to the employee. Obtain the terms that apply to the applicant before funding professional expenses personally.
Ask who bears a cost when the reason for it disappears. That question sorts a budget faster than any category list. Destination registration paid personally is generally not recoverable if the assignment is cancelled, so establish before paying whether the employer reimburses on submission or on commencement of work; those are different triggers and only one of them survives a cancellation.
The same test applies to equipment bought for a specific contract and to travel booked ahead of a start date. Where the employer answers that reimbursement follows its client contract, ask for the term to be confirmed in writing to the applicant, because a cost-allocation clause between two companies creates no obligation to the employee. Charges that are genuinely the applicant's own, such as professional dues and licence renewal, stay on the personal side of the ledger wherever the work happens.