The petition carries government fees set out in the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, with premium processing available at additional cost where a start date is fixed. Around those sit the real expenses: assembling corporate records across two jurisdictions, certified translations, and counsel to draft a petition that survives a request for evidence.
The petition fee is predictable; the record assembly is not
Employers budgeting for a transfer often plan for the government charge and are surprised by everything else. Corporate evidence for an affiliate relationship frequently has to be reconstructed, because minute books drift out of date in owner-managed companies and share transfers are sometimes recorded informally. A corporate lawyer may be needed simply to bring the registers current before an immigration filing can rely on them.
Financial statements, contracts and tax filings must be pulled for both entities. Anything not in English requires a complete certified translation. Where the petition is complex, counsel's time is the largest single line, and a request for evidence adds to it.
Against that, premium processing buys a faster decision but not a better one. The fee schedule changes periodically, so the current figures should be read from Form G-1055 rather than carried forward from a previous filing.
- USCIS: L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive or Manager
- eCFR: 8 CFR 214.2, Special requirements for admission, extension and maintenance of status
- USCIS Policy Manual: Volume 2, Part L, Intracompany Transferees
- USCIS Policy Manual: Volume 10, Part B, Chapter 2, employment authorization for certain spouses
- USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule