From today (1 April 2021), Queensland 491 Visa – Small Business Owners requirements have been changed as below.
- The pre-existing business purchased will need to have been in operation for 2 years instead of 1 year.
- There will also need to be a minimum purchase price of $100,000 (rather than the total investment in the business).
- Sub-leases of franchises (such as petrol stations), and home-based businesses (such as courier and cleaning businesses) will not be considered.
Please note: businesses that have been purchased prior to 1 April 2021 are not subject to these requirements.
All the other requirements same as before:
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible for Queensland nomination, you must meet both the Australian Department of Home Affairs (HA) criteria and the Business and Skilled Migration Queensland (BSMQ) criteria for your chosen visa category.
The HA criteria require 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
- submit additional documents if invited to lodge an application for a subclass 491 visa.
BSMQ criteria require you to:
- have an occupation on HA’s Legislative instrument (LIN 19/051)
- have prior business experience (operating the business successfully for at least 6 months meets this criteria), qualifications to successfully run the business, or previous family-run business experience.
- be on a visa that allows full-time work and operation of the business for a minimum of 35 hours per week
- have purchased an existing business in regional Queensland (Note: not available for start-ups or home based businesses, franchise businesses must have been operating for at least a year prior to purchase)
- invested a minimum of $100,000 in the business prior to submitting an EOI
- have 100% ownership of the business (partnerships or joint ventures not eligible)
- be trading in the business for 6 months prior to application
- employ one (1) employee who is an Australian resident working a minimum of 20 hours per week. Please note: an Australian resident for 491-SBO purposes is an Australian permanent resident, Australian citizen or New Zealand citizen on a subclass 444 Special Category visa.
- provide evidence of sufficient settlement funds.
If you want to get more information about the QLD 491 & 190 Visa, please make an appointment with our migration agent.