Share registers or capitalisation tables for both companies showing the same owners in the same proportions, the constating documents, and proof that each is operating: leases, payroll, contracts and invoices. If ownership is through a holding company, include its records as well.
Trace the ownership to the same hands
An affiliate relationship depends on common ownership and control. Hypothetical example: the Lake Country company is owned 60/40 by two founders and the Montana entity was set up with the same two founders holding 60/40; that mirrors the ownership and is straightforward to prove with the share registers. If the Montana plant instead has a local partner holding a third of the shares, the proportions no longer match and the petition must explain why the relationship still qualifies, which may require restructuring.
USCIS also expects evidence that both entities are doing business rather than merely existing: the Montana plant's lease, its equipment purchases, payroll for the staff already hired and its first customer contracts; the Lake Country company's payroll, supplier accounts and sales. Financial statements help. Prepare an organisational chart showing the ownership chain and the planner's position in both companies, and keep the corporate minute books current so the file does not depend on reconstructed records.
The first document review should answer two separate questions: who owns and controls each company, and what records show that each company is actively doing business. A signed share register, current operating agreement, board resolutions, and tax or payroll records settle those points more reliably than a corporate chart prepared for the petition. Hypothetical example: a Lake Country medical-device calibration company plans to transfer its polymer engineer to a Nevada affiliate.
Its chart shows 80 percent common ownership, but the affiliate's operating agreement gives a minority investor veto rights over ordinary management decisions. The review must read the agreement, not just the chart, and determine whether control truly remains with the common owners. If the control record is unclear, the ownership issue must be resolved before the specialized-knowledge evidence is assembled; otherwise strong technical material cannot cure a missing qualifying relationship.