Keep two ledgers. Purchase price, working capital, lease deposits, equipment and a franchise or distributorship fee are the investment and are counted as such; consular processing or a change-of-status filing is an application cost, published in the official schedules, and is not part of the investment.
Two ledgers, kept deliberately apart
Confusing the two produces both bad budgeting and a weak evidentiary picture. Money spent acquiring and equipping the enterprise supports the substantiality analysis and belongs in the investment ledger with its supporting invoices. Money spent on applications, advisers and travel supports nothing in that analysis, however necessary it is. Keeping them apart from the first week means the investment ledger can be handed to an officer without editing, and the household knows what the move actually costs. Check current government charges against the published schedule on the day, since amounts and processes both change.
Hypothetical example: a buyer from Roxton Pond acquires a wood-coatings and abrasives distributorship in the United States, paying an initial distributorship fee, taking a lease on a warehouse bay, and buying inventory and a delivery vehicle. Those four items sit in the investment ledger with receipts attached. The application charges, the accountant’s fee for the business plan, and flights to view premises sit in the second ledger. Presenting the first ledger alone, cleanly and with documents, is far more persuasive than a single total that mixes categories and invites questions about what is included.