The petition fee for Form I-129, the fraud-prevention fee, any asylum-program fee, and optional premium processing, all as listed on Form G-1055, plus professional fees and the subsidiary’s U.S. salary obligations.
List the government charges from the schedule, then the business costs
Government fees for an L-1 petition are set by USCIS and published on Form G-1055; the employer pays them and should not pass them to the transferee. The list typically includes the I-129 base fee, a fraud-prevention and detection fee, an asylum-program fee whose amount depends on employer size, and premium processing if faster adjudication is wanted. Check the current schedule because amounts change. Separate from those, the business must fund a salary appropriate to an executive, which affects the subsidiary’s cash-flow evidence, and may incur legal fees, translation costs and relocation expenses. A small company sometimes underestimates the ongoing costs of maintaining two trading entities, because the Canadian parent must remain active for the whole period, including its own payroll and filings.
The employer should separate mandatory government charges from ordinary business expenses and from the employee's personal travel costs. Fee responsibility is not proof of the qualifying relationship, but an unexplained reimbursement arrangement can make a small company's plan appear improvised. Estimate legal preparation, translations, premium processing if chosen, and later extension work before assigning a transfer date. Hypothetical example: a precision-optics manufacturer wants to move its operations vice-president for three years. Its board approves the petition fees and relocation budget separately, leaving an auditable record that the U.S. entity, rather than the transferee personally, is sponsoring the move.