Government charges are listed in the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, and include the petition fee, the fraud-prevention fee and, depending on the company's size and workforce, other statutory fees; premium processing is optional. The larger costs are internal: reconstructing records, restructuring the US role, corporate documents, and relocation and payroll changes.
Budget the evidence work, not just the filing
Check the current G-1055 schedule rather than a figure remembered from a previous transfer, because the fee components changed with recent rules and depend on employer characteristics. Then budget the work that actually decides the case. Reconstructing reporting lines from payroll and audit records takes accounting and quality staff time.
Obtaining certified share registers and financial statements for the holding company and both subsidiaries may involve the corporate lawyer and the auditors. If the US role has to be restructured, there may be new job descriptions, a revised chart and a salary adjustment for the transferee, which also affects the US plant's payroll taxes and benefits enrolment. Add relocation, temporary housing and the cost of maintaining two households if the family follows later.
Premium processing shortens the wait for a decision but does not reduce the evidence burden; spend on the records first. Hypothetical example: a Quinte West water-metering manufacturer proposes to move its Canadian vice-president to reorganize a small US affiliate. The first cost review should separate filing charges from the corporate evidence the petition needs: payroll reports establishing the foreign role, board minutes defining authority, current organization charts, and ownership records for both entities.
If the chart shows the transferee still approves routine purchasing and directly schedules technicians, the company may have to add layers or change the proposed job before filing; that commercial change has a cost of its own. The useful budget therefore identifies the document owner, delivery date and expected correction work, rather than treating the government fee as the whole project.