The filing charges are the Form I-129 fee, the L supplement, any additional fees that apply to the employer, and optional premium processing, all published in the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055. Beyond that, this is the classification where responding to a request for evidence is most likely, and that response is where budgets are actually consumed.
Price the request for evidence before you file, not after
Specialized-knowledge petitions attract requests for evidence more often than the executive category, because the central question is a matter of degree rather than of fact. Sensible planning treats a request as likely and prepares for it in advance, which is cheaper than assembling material under a deadline. Hypothetical example: a Sainte-Cécile-de-Milton employer is deciding whether to pay an independent engineer to review its calibration method and explain, in a signed declaration, why it departs from ordinary practice.
The declaration costs several thousand dollars and feels avoidable. Set against a response prepared in sixty days under pressure, with the assignment already delayed and a customer waiting, the earlier spending is usually the smaller number. Translation of internal French-language manuals is the other line item companies here consistently underestimate.