Accounting and legal time to put corporate records in order, translation of French-language financial documents, the U.S. entity’s own setup and premises, and any second round of evidence.
The record-keeping is usually the largest line
Government fees are published and can be checked against the current USCIS fee schedule. The unbudgeted costs sit in the corporate file. Closely held companies often have accurate accounts and informal ownership paperwork, and producing a clean, consistent record of who owns what and since when takes professional time. Translation of financial statements and tax filings adds to that. If the U.S. entity is new, its incorporation, registered agent, banking, insurance and premises are real costs that also serve as evidence. Finally, budget for the possibility of a request for further evidence, which usually means revisiting the same records rather than producing new ones, but still consumes time.
Budget for the petition, legal preparation, translations, travel, and any document retrieval without suggesting that payment improves eligibility. The factual review should identify which record is indispensable and which expense is merely convenient. Corporate cleanup costs may be worthwhile only if they accurately document an existing relationship; creating a paper structure for the filing does not establish past qualifying employment. Hypothetical example: a specialty-paper manufacturer considers paying for a new organization chart before locating payroll ledgers; the ledgers answer the continuous-employment point more directly.
Keep receipts for records obtained from registries and payroll providers, but assess their evidentiary value before ordering duplicate corporate documents that add no new fact.