Record preparation and qualifying investment need separate accounting according to their actual purpose and treatment.
Budget evidence costs without inflating the contribution
General capital currently is US$1,050,000 or US$800,000 for qualifying TEA or infrastructure cases, with statutory adjustment from January 1, 2027 and filing-date review. Paying to obtain an old statement does not by itself increase the funds placed into the qualifying investment.
Separate qualifying capital, project charges, and personal costs for archives, translation, tax advice, and filing work. Classify each amount under its agreement and legal treatment. Buying an old statement may help prove source and path, but it neither becomes capital at risk nor helps meet the investment threshold. Under the current capital rule, US$1,050,000 applies outside the reduced category; US$800,000 applies when the investment qualifies through a targeted employment area or infrastructure project. Confirm the amount controlling on the filing date. Ten full-time qualifying jobs and management or policy participation remain separate. Direct cases use I-526, whereas regional-center investors file I-526E. The budget error is counting the cost of proving money as though it were the money invested.
Hypothetical example: A maple-processing equipment fabricator near Larouche pays for archived corporate statements, certified translations, and tracing advice after selling machinery. Her spreadsheet assigns those invoices to evidence preparation and follows the net sale proceeds into a direct enterprise separately. Before preparing Form I-526, she confirms that the qualifying capital itself reaches the applicable level without adding professional or retrieval bills.