Clarify the scope of employer preparation and legal review, including how sensitive records will be handled. Keep government charges, optional processing requests and family costs separate.
Identify who will do the explanatory work
The employee, technical manager and corporate record holder may supply different parts of the file. Ask which factual work is needed before paying for an extensive narrative. Confirm whether the engagement covers changes to the assignment or later government questions. More drafting cannot replace missing knowledge or company-relationship evidence.
Check the published fee schedule for current amounts and any optional faster-adjudication charge, then set beside it a realistic estimate of the hours needed to produce contemporaneous documents, translations and a truthful account of staffing depth. For an L-1B worker placed primarily at an unaffiliated worksite, the unaffiliated employer cannot principally control and supervise the worker, and the placement cannot be essentially an arrangement to provide labour for hire rather than to use the petitioner’s specialized knowledge.