Money irrevocably placed into the enterprise and exposed to loss counts: the purchase price, equipment, inventory, leasehold commitments and working capital. Government charges, legal fees, travel and living expenses do not. Filing charges where a petition is used are published in the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, and consular processing has its own fee structure.
Keep three ledgers so nobody has to untangle one
Separate the accounts from the beginning. The first ledger is invested capital: everything paid into or committed to the American business, each line supported by an invoice or agreement and a bank entry. The second is the cost of getting status, which includes the visa or petition charges, legal fees and the trips involved; these are real expenditures and none of them strengthen the investment figure.
The third is the household's own reserve, the money the family will live on while the season starts, which should be visible and separate so nobody mistakes it for capital or wonders how the family intends to eat. Two practical points recur. Amounts still sitting in a business account uncommitted are weaker evidence than amounts deployed into the operation.
And a broker's valuation is not proof of anything; the price paid and the money moved are.