Small business owners in regional Queensland

Features

This pathway is for migrants who are currently living and operating a small business in a regional area. You must have an occupation that is on the Home Affairs Legislative Instrument LIN 19/051 and a have a positive skills assessment in an occupation on this instrument. You must also have full-time work rights and not currently be studying.

Note: Seek professional legal and financial advice before making an investment or starting a business. Migration Queensland takes no responsibility if your business or investment is not successful.

You must complete an Expression of Interest (EOI) on Skillselect before submitting a 491 – Small Business Owner Assessment Form for this visa.

Migration Queensland offers nominations under the following visa subclasses:

• Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) – This visa allows nominated skilled workers to live and work in regional Queensland for five years and is a pathway to permanent residency.

Applicable regions

You must live and work within one of the following post codes to be eligible for this visa:

4019–4022, 4025, 4037, 4074, 4076–4078, 4124–4125, 4133, 4183–4184, 4207–4275, 4280–4287, 4300–4301, 4303–4498, 4500–4512, 4514–4519, 4521, 4550–4575, 4580–4895.

Note: The above postcodes are applicable to those who have been nominated and applied for their 491 visa from 5 March 2022. Further details can be found in LIN 22/022.

If you were nominated or applied for the 491 visa prior to 5 March 2022, the applicable Queensland postcodes can be found in LIN 20/292.

If you were granted a 491 visa prior to 19 November 2019, the Gold Coast is not an eligible region.

To find other visa options that suit your circumstances, use the Department of Home Affairs Visa Finder.

Criteria Clarification for 2022–23

• No vendor financing
• No share transfer (must have a contract of business sale)
• Cannot purchase business from family member
• Cannot purchase a business previously owned by a 491-SBO applicant
• Commission agents or leasing agents of franchises (such as petrol stations), and home-based businesses (including those with virtual offices) will not be considered
• Applicants must operate their business for at least 3 years in a regional area (and may be subject to monitoring) after the grant of the visa.

Please note: Applicants for the 491 Small Business Owner (SBO) pathway with Migration Queensland have signed a declaration under (item 7(b) to: ‘operate a business and reside in Queensland for at least three years from visa grant’. Should an applicant choose to sell their SBO business prior to this time, Migration Queensland has the option to withdraw the nomination of the 491 visa to allow the applicant to explore other visa options.

Applicants need to be aware of this condition prior to committing to this visa pathway.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for a Queensland nomination, you must meet both the Department of Home Affairs Immigration Eligibility Criteria and Migration Queensland criteria for your chosen visa category.

Home Affairs criteria requires you to:

• have a points-test result of 65 or higher, inclusive of state nomination points;
• have a positive skills assessment in your nominated occupation;
• be under 45 years of age;
• meet the minimum English language requirement of competent, unless a higher level is required by your assessing authority; and
• submit additional documents, if invited to lodge an application for a 491 visa.

Migration Queensland criteria requires you to:

• have an occupation on the Legislative Instrument (LIN 19/051);
• be on a visa that allows full-time work and operation of the business (minimum of 35 hours per week);
• have purchased an existing business in regional Queensland;
  • Note: This is not available for home-based businesses. All businesses must have been operating for at least 2 years prior to purchase in the current location (including franchises).
• Purchased a business for a minimum of $100,000, OR have been operating a profitable start-up for a minimum of 2 years with a turnover of $200,000 in the year directly prior to application.
• have 100% ownership of the business – partnerships or joint ventures are not eligible;
• have been trading in the business for 6 months before application (the full cost of the business must be paid in full before the 6-month trading period begins);
• employ 1 employee who is an Australian resident, working a minimum of 20 hours per week, or 2 employees working 10 hours a week;
  • Note: An Australian resident in this situation is an Australian permanent resident, Australian citizen, or a New Zealand citizen on a Special Category visa (subclass 444).
• provide evidence of sufficient settlement funds.

Application process

Step 1

Review your eligibility criteria, visa conditions, and document checklist on the Department of Home Affairs website and the Migration Queensland website. Ensure that you meet both the Home Affairs Immigration Eligibility Criteria and Migration Queensland criteria and that you have all your documentation prior to lodging an EOI.

Step 2

For Queensland state nomination, submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) with SkillSelect. Ensure that all information, such as work experience, is included in your EOI. Preference will be given to applicants who select “Queensland” as their nominating state of choice.

Step 3

Submit the online 491 – Small Business Owner Assessment form

Step 4

Migration Queensland assesses all EOIs that meet the above Home Affairs and Migration Queensland criteria. If you are successful, you will receive an email invitation to lodge an application and be requested to provide the documents required.

Note: You must upload these documents digitally through the Document Portal link in your invitation email.

Migration Queensland no longer accepts documents sent by email or post. You can only upload one document per file. If you have multiple documents, merge, and save them as one file.

Step 5

When you have received your invitation from Migration Queensland:

1. upload the required documents, and
2. pay the non-refundable application fee to finalise your application. Do not pay the fee until you have been invited to apply and all your documents have been uploaded.

Migration Queensland will then review your application and may request any further information.

Note: You will be given 14 days to finalise your application from the date of invitation. If you are unable to provide the relevant information within this time frame, you must seek an extension from Migration Queensland. Applications not finalised within the time frame will be closed and applicants will need to submit a new EOI if they wish to seek Queensland nomination again.

Step 6

Once Migration Queensland has received and approved your completed application, you will receive an invitation from the Department of Home Affairs to lodge your visa application. You will be given 60 days to lodge your application with them.

Note: If you made a mistake on your submitted EOI after receiving a nomination, or if you miss the lodgement date, you will have to wait 6 months before applying again.