The employer pays the I-129 fee, the fraud prevention and detection fee, any additional fees that apply to its size, and optional premium processing, all as listed in the current USCIS fee schedule. Preparation costs are higher than average because the specialized-knowledge and offsite-control evidence has to be built from internal records.
Documentation time is the real expense
The published fees are fixed and can be read from the G-1055 schedule, and the employer must pay those that the rules assign to it. What varies is the effort of assembling proof: engineering staff have to extract and redact internal documents, managers have to write comparison letters, and counsel has to draft a petition explaining both the knowledge and the customer-site arrangement in a way that answers the usual requests for evidence. A weak first filing that draws a request for evidence costs more in time and fees than a thorough one. Family L-2 visa applications carry consular fees for non-Canadian relatives. If the employer also expects to convert Nadia to L-1A later, an early plan avoids paying twice for corporate evidence. Nothing here quotes an amount; the schedule is the authority.
Hypothetical example: A dental-implant CAD/CAM specialist is needed for a U.S. launch. The employer should price the petition, translations, evidence preparation, travel, dependants and the business costs of maintaining a credible specialized-knowledge record. It should also identify who pays for confidential technical summaries and whether any outside expert is needed. Costs should not drive the company to omit essential proof of foreign employment or control at a client site. A modest documentation expense can prevent an expensive delay when the reviewer cannot connect the employee’s knowledge to the assignment.