Registration costs do not by themselves demonstrate actual business activity.
Read the expense for its purpose
Identify the transactions and operations behind the claim. An older company can still require a careful new-office analysis, and preparation spending does not guarantee the result.
A purchase may involve separate business and legal considerations, but the expense does not establish qualifying managerial or executive duties. Estimate costs after identifying whether the matter is an initial petition, an extension, a change connected to a new office, or a family follow-on. The immigration costs are the Form I-129 filing fee, the statutory fraud prevention and detection fee, and the premium-processing fee if a fifteen-business-day decision is wanted, each read from the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, at the time of filing. Keep government charges, professional preparation costs, payroll, and ordinary launch expenses in separate budget lines, and consult the current official fee schedule. For costs, obtain a written scope separating case analysis, petition work, response work, premium handling if chosen, and official charges. The larger costs are usually corporate record work, financial statement preparation, premises commitments and professional review. The larger and less predictable expense is producing the corporate evidence that a small company has never previously had to assemble. Business staffing and operating expenditure should be tracked separately from government fees, document preparation and professional services.