The Form I-129 base fee, the anti-fraud fee and, depending on the company's size and status, a reduced or waived asylum-program fee, all on Form G-1055. Premium processing is optional; a small company with a flexible transfer date can decline it and save the charge.
Small employers pay less on one line and should read the schedule
Every L-1 petition carries the base Form I-129 fee and the fraud-prevention and detection fee. The asylum-program fee introduced with the fee schedule is reduced for small employers and waived for nonprofits, so a five-person genetics company should check the current definition of a small employer on Form G-1055 and claim the reduced amount if it qualifies; overpaying is not refunded and underpaying leads to rejection. Premium processing is a separate optional fee that buys action within a defined service window.
A company that can set the transfer date some months out may reasonably decline it, but it should weigh the cost of a slow decision against the cost of a manager waiting. Preparation expense is the larger item: organizing the exhibits, translating French-language agreements and preparing two organization charts and a time-allocation analysis take professional hours. If the U.S.
subsidiary is a new office, add the cost of securing premises before filing, since a lease is a filing requirement rather than a later step. Family members apply for L-2 at the port of entry as Canadians.