L-1B does not impose a universal recruitment test, and recruitment does not replace the actual placement restrictions.
Prepare the relevant evidence
Focus on knowledge, employer service and supervision. Confirm current charges and professional scope separately from business staffing expenses.
The employer's filing charge and optional premium processing from the USCIS fee schedule, plus considerable internal technical time preparing and redacting evidence. Training cost may provide context, but it does not replace an explanation of the knowledge and the applicable legal standard. Evidence preparation may involve explaining complex material, but a large documentation budget does not prove specialized knowledge. Clarify whether a quoted engagement includes review of confidential material, any offsite-placement analysis, or responses to later government questions. The assessment should address qualifying specialized knowledge rather than an invented requirement to prove every U.S. recruitment effort failed. Government charges are set out in the fee schedule; the real expense is the engineering and records work needed to evidence what the employee actually built. Specialized-knowledge petitions draw requests for evidence more often than most, which makes a thorough first filing cheaper than a thin one plus a response.