Filing fees are published in the USCIS fee schedule and vary with the petition type and any premium request. The larger costs are usually professional fees, the U.S. premises secured before filing, and the accounting work required to document both entities.
The fee schedule is the small number on the invoice
Read the current filing fees from the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, at the time of filing, because amounts change and quoted figures age badly. For planning purposes, the government fee is rarely the dominant cost of a first transfer by a small company. Legal fees for a new-office petition reflect real work: designing the role, drafting the position description, assembling corporate evidence and writing a defensible business plan. The U.S. premises usually have to be secured before filing, which means rent commitments begin before any approval. Accounting time is needed to produce statements for both entities. And if the first-year plan requires hiring, those salaries start early too. A company that budgets only for fees is usually surprised in the second month, not the first.
Hypothetical example: A Canadian export-packaging firm rents a small warehouse in Michigan before transferring its general manager. Its budget needs three columns: immigration filing and professional fees, costs of proving the relationship and employee history, and business costs required to make the planned managerial role real. Lease deposits, payroll for U.S. staff, accounting records, and authority delegations belong in the third column even though they are not government charges. The file must show a qualifying organization and a year of eligible foreign employment during the prior 36 months; for a new office, it must also support management within a year. Underfunding the staffing plan is expensive because it leaves the transferee doing production work. A seven-year maximum makes postponing the managerial transition an especially poor economy.