Payroll registers by period with total hours, the service contracts for each building, annual financial statements prepared consistently, the current share register, and evidence of the investors' own role in running the enterprise. Purchase documents matter once; operating records matter every time.
The operating file becomes the immigration file
For a labour-intensive service business the strongest evidence is payroll. Registers period by period, with headcount and total hours, demonstrate that the enterprise is real, operating and providing employment beyond the family, which is precisely what the marginality condition asks about. Alongside them, keep the contracts: the buildings served, the terms, the renewals and any new business won, because a contract portfolio is a forward-looking answer to the same question.
Financial statements should be prepared on a consistent basis year to year so that trends are visible rather than obscured by changes in presentation. The share register should be current and dated. Finally, keep something that shows the investors themselves directing the business: board or shareholder minutes, signed contracts, hiring decisions, and correspondence in their own names.
A business run entirely by a hired manager raises a question that documents in the owners' names answer easily. Hypothetical example: a bicycle-repair entrepreneur agrees to buy an established shop and places funds into an escrow arrangement tied to visa issuance. The first review produces a funds path, signed purchase documents, escrow instructions, a lease, and an operating plan.
Bank statements and transfer confirmations settle where the money came from and where it went; the escrow terms settle whether it is genuinely committed. The buyer should obtain every record at the time of transfer, because later bank screenshots may not explain the sequence. A file becomes weak when the money appears available but no contract shows a binding business commitment or exposure to loss.