What I actually spent, roughly, across the whole process

Seeing occasional cost questions here without much concrete detail, so sharing a rough, honest breakdown of my own spending — obviously specific to my situation and not a universal figure, since attorney fees, credit usage, translation costs, and filing fees all vary. The largest single cost was attorney fees, by a wide margin. Filing fees (including premium processing, since I opted for it) were the next largest predictable cost. Translation services and any document authentication were smaller but real costs that added up more than I initially budgeted for. Merito's tools were a comparatively modest cost relative to the rest, especially weighed against the amount of organizational work and self-review capability they provided. What I'd tell someone budgeting for this: build in real buffer beyond your initial estimate, since translation, authentication, and unexpected document-gathering costs (a certified copy fee here, a notary fee there) tend to add up in ways that are individually small but collectively meaningful.