Queensland 491 Small Business Owner Pathway 2026-27: Purchase Route Closed, Start-Up Deadline 30 April 2027

If you are on a temporary visa and you run your own small business in regional Queensland, you have probably heard that it can lead to a subclass 491 visa through Migration Queensland's Small Business Owner pathway. That is still true for a narrow group. For everyone else, the 2026-27 program has quietly closed the door.

We are Nationwide Migration and Education, a Brisbane migration agency and a team of registered migration agents. We have worked with this pathway since it began and we have watched it tighten every year. This article sets out what the pathway is, what changed for 2026-27, exactly what you have to prove, the rules that rule most people out, and what Queensland expects of you after nomination. Everything here is from the Migration Queensland pathway page and its 491 Small Business Owner FAQ as read on 30 October 2026, the day Queensland published its 2026-27 program. The pages change without notice, so check them before you act.

This is Part 2 of our Queensland coverage. Part 1, on the four skilled streams for employees and graduates, is here.

What the 491 Small Business Owner pathway is

Migration Queensland nominates migrants who own and operate a small business in regional Queensland for the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa, subclass 491. The 491 is a five-year provisional visa. After holding it for at least three years, and meeting the federal income and residence conditions, you can apply for permanent residence through the subclass 191.

Three features set this pathway apart from the rest of Queensland's program:

• It is 491 only. There is no subclass 190 version.

• It is onshore only. Migration Queensland's FAQ says it is available only to people "living and operating a business in regional Queensland". Offshore applicants cannot use it.

• You do not need a Queensland employer. Your business is your qualifying work. That is the attraction, and it is also why Queensland demands so much evidence that the business is real.

What changed for 2026-27

When we last captured the pathway rules in June 2026 there were two ways in. Pathway 1 let you buy an existing regional business for at least $100,000, employ a local worker and apply. Pathway 2 was for businesses you started yourself. Both had staggered deadlines depending on when you bought or started.

The current page is much shorter, and three things stand out.

The Business Purchase pathway is closed.Migration Queensland's page now says plainly that the "Business Purchase pathway has now been closed." If you bought a business in regional Queensland intending to use it for this visa, this pathway can no longer help you.

The start-up window is fixed. Only businesses first registered between 1 June 2024 and 19 September 2025are eligible. Businesses started before 1 June 2024 are "no longer eligible"; their earlier deadline of 30 May 2026 has passed. Businesses started after 19 September 2025 are not eligible at all. If you are thinking of starting a business now to qualify, the window has already closed.

There is one deadline for everyone left. Your Registration of Interest must be submitted before 30 April 2027. Queensland says ROIs lodged after that date "will not be eligible for Queensland nomination under this pathway."

One rule has become more generous. The page now expressly accepts a business jointly owned with your spouse or de facto partner. Our June 2026 capture recorded a flat 100 per cent ownership requirement.

What you must prove

If your business was first registered inside the window, this is the evidence Queensland expects.

The two-year exemption.If your business started between 1 May 2025 and 19 September 2025 and cannot reach two years of operation by the ROI deadline, Queensland will exempt you from the two-year rule. You must still be profitable and still show $200,000 turnover in the 12 months before the ROI. The exemption is narrow and it does not touch the money.

No employees required. Unlike the old purchase pathway, the start-up pathway has no requirement to employ anyone.

The rules that rule most people out

The eligibility list above looks manageable. The FAQ is where applicants fall over.

• Two years in a regional postcode before you register. Queensland's FAQ says you must have lived and worked in a regional Queensland postcode for the two years immediately before submitting your ROI. Any study in that period must also have been in a regional postcode. Moving to the regions last year to open a shop does not get you there.

• Six months in commercial premises.You can start at home, but you must have operated from a commercial location for at least the six months before your ROI.

• It must be a business you created. Buying a registered business, even a company that never traded, and changing what it does is not a start-up. Buying a home-based business and moving it into a shop is not either.

• Students.If you started the business while studying, it still has to have been registered before 19 September 2025, and you must then run it full-time, at least 20 hours a week, for at least six months after finishing your course.

• Your partner cannot run it for you. A spouse or de facto partner can co-own and help, but you must be the one actively involved full-time.

• Excluded business types.Multiple businesses under one ABN with combined financials or BAS; passive investments such as management rights; home-based businesses including virtual offices; commission or leasing agents of franchises, such as petrol stations; and daigou businesses.

• Franchises. A franchise must be new to the postcode and must have the master franchisor's approval.

Eligible regional Queensland postcodes

Both you and the business must be in one of these postcodes:

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

Check your exact postcode against the Migration Queensland page. Brisbane city postcodes are not on the list.

The federal 491 requirements still apply

Queensland's nomination is one half of the application. The Department of Home Affairs decides the visa, and the subclass 491 rules apply in full: a positive skills assessment in your nominated occupation, at least 65 points including the nomination points, competent English, and being under 45 when invited. Those are Home Affairs rules, and we check them against the Home Affairs page for every client before anything is lodged.

What you lodge if invited

An invitation gives you 14 calendar days to lodge the 491 SBO application form and every supporting document, and to pay the fee. The fee is $630.30 including GST, onshore only, and it is not refunded under any circumstances.

The business evidence Queensland lists:

• current commercial lease for the business address

• ASIC current and historical company extracts showing ownership, plus the ABN or ACN

• eight quarterly Business Activity Statements from the past two years, complete, signed and dated

• audited profit and loss statement prepared by a registered accountant, showing profit and at least $200,000 turnover in the 12 months before the ROI

• business bank statements for the previous quarter, with business expenses highlighted for the most recent month

• statutory declaration confirming full-time involvement and weekly hours

Plus the personal documents: passport bio page, skills assessment or registration evidence, proof of residential address in Queensland, and a recent VEVO statement.

Queensland says it generally processes a complete application within four to six weeks.

After nomination: the three-year rule

Nomination is not the end of Queensland's interest in your business.

• You must continue operating the business until at least three years after the 491 visa is granted. Queensland says it may monitor this.

• You cannot relocate or sell the businesswithout Migration Queensland's approval first. That applies after nomination, before visa grant and after visa grant. Queensland can withdraw the nomination if you breach it.

• For the 191, you will need ATO notices of assessment for three of the five years on the 491, alongside the federal residence conditions.

Should you be applying?

You are a candidate if all of the following are true: your business was first registered between 1 June 2024 and 19 September 2025; it trades from commercial premises in an eligible regional postcode; you have lived and worked in a regional postcode for the last two years; it is profitable; and it is turning over $200,000 a year or close to it. If that is you, the ROI deadline is 30 April 2027, and we would start now. Eight BAS statements and an audited profit and loss take time to assemble properly.

If that is not you, do not force it. Queensland has four other skilled streams, including a building and construction stream with only a three-month qualifying period, and we cover them in Part 1.

Three things to bring to a consultation

1. Your ABN or ASIC registration showing the date the business was first registered.

2. Your last eight BAS statements, or as many as you have, and your most recent profit and loss.

3. Your lease and your residential address history for the last two years.

Our Brisbane team will tell you in one meeting whether the pathway is open to you and, if it is, build the registration so it survives Queensland's assessment. [Book a consultation](https://nationwidemigration.com.au/onshoreapplicantss) or call our Brisbane office on +61 7 3726 5183.

This article is general information only and is not immigration advice for your circumstances. Migration Queensland and the Department of Home Affairs change their requirements without notice. Nationwide Migration and Education, Level 5, 320 Adelaide Street, Brisbane. Suman Dua is a registered migration agent.