Bring corporate formation and ownership documents, the management agreement, and bank and transfer records tracing funds from their lawful origin to the enterprise, along with contracts, leases or licences already signed. An account balance alone does not establish source and path; the movement of the money must be traceable.
Trace both the origin and the route of funds
Show where the money came from — sale proceeds, business income, savings, a gift or a loan — and then every step it travelled to reach the U.S. enterprise. Missing statements can usually be supplemented, so identify gaps early rather than assuming the file cannot be repaired.
Separate business spending from immigration preparation costs; how professional fees are treated depends on the actual expense, so ask counsel to review each line. Hypothetical example: a specimen cold-chain packaging supplier is funded partly from the sale of a previous business and partly from a family loan. Both need papers: the sale agreement and closing statement for the first, a written loan agreement with its terms and any security for the second.
A loan secured against the investor’s personal assets is treated differently from one secured against the enterprise itself, so the security document is not a detail to leave for later. Ask for it at the same time as the loan agreement itself. A lender who declines to put the terms in writing is itself a fact worth recording.