Corporate formation or acquisition costs, legal review of the governing documents, a business plan, accounting work on the source of funds, and the working capital the enterprise needs. Government charges depend on the filing route and should be confirmed from the official current source.
Budget for the structure, not just the transaction
Where control is part of the question, the documents that establish it are worth doing properly rather than adapting from a template. That means corporate legal time in the United States, alongside the immigration advice and the accounting work on the capital. Add the cost of a business plan written to be read by an adjudicator rather than by a lender.
And keep post-closing working capital genuinely separate in the budget, because an enterprise that is undercapitalized on day one struggles to be the real, active, non-marginal operation the classification describes, regardless of how well the purchase itself was documented. Set the working-capital figure by asking what the business needs in order to trade through its first two years, not by counting whatever happens to remain after the purchase price is paid. Hypothetical example: Leandro is comparing a small U.S.
bicycle-frame powder-coating shop with a more expensive franchise. A cost review should compare the total cost of each enterprise with capital actually committed to it, plus fees, professional work, travel and working capital. The purchase documents and account records settle what has truly been placed into the venture.
Decide on the business first; do not select one merely because it meets an imagined universal dollar figure. A common mistake is counting money retained in a personal account as though it were invested, or ignoring the operating cash needed after closing.