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Small Business Owner Comparison – 491 visa

Small Business Owner Comparison – 491 visa – a pathway to Australia permanent residency

The skilled migration program in Australia has been the most popular program used by migrants to obtain permanent residency status in this country. Therefore, Australia receives thousands of applications every year under the skilled migration program from people around the world, which makes the program highly competitive. For those who are in Australia and cannot meet certain requirements of the states/ territories (for instance, occupations, work experience or job offer), and wish to run a business in that state/ territory, they might consider the Small Business Owner (SBO) pathway to aim for the permanent residency.

Currently, as of July 2021, there are 3 states in Australia, which are Queensland, Tasmania and Canberra, that have in place the SBO streams for migrants. We have detailed all the requirements and application process for this stream in these states in our previous articles:

There are many requirements, and you might find it difficult to digest. Therefore, in this article, we would like to make a comparison for the SBO streams in these 3 states, so that you will have a better understanding of which state would suit you best in your situation.

	QUEENSLAND SMALL BUSINESS OWNER STREAM	TASMANIA SMALL BUSINESS OWNER STREAM	CANBERRA SMALL BUSINESS OWNER STREAM
Types of Eligible visa	491 (Provisional)	491 (Provisional)	190 (Permanent Resident) and 491 (Provisional)
Your Current visa	You must be on a visa that gives your full work rights (i.e student visa is not eligible)	You can be on any types of visas	You can be on any types of visas
Your location	You must be in Queensland for at least 6 months	You must be in Tasmania for at least 6 months	You must be in Canberra for at least 3 months for 491 nomination, and 6 months for 190 nomination
Types of business	Must buy an existing business. If you are buying a franchise business, it must have been operating for at least 1 year.	Must establish a new business	Can either buy an existing business or establish a new one
Value of the Business	At least AUD 100,000	No requirement	No requirement
Ownership Percentage	100%	100%	At least 51%. Your business partner must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
Annual Turnover of the business	No specific requirement	No specific requirement	AUD 200,000 (or pro rata)
Length of Business	At least 6 months before applying	At least 6 months before applying	At least 6 months before applying
Number of Australian citizen/ PR Employees	You must employ at least one employee who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or subclass 444 holders for at least 20 hours/ week.	No requirement	You must employ at least one Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand citizen for at least 13 weeks (minimum 20 hrs pw)
Your Salary	No specific requirement. However, you still need to meet the AUD 53,900 income requirement for 3 years in the next 5 years to be eligible for 191 permanent visa	You must demonstrate that the business is able to give you a personal income of at least $53,900 for at least 3 years in the next 5 years	Your salary must be at least: · AUD 26,000/ 6 months for 190 nomination · AUD 13,000/ 3 months for 491 nomination
Ineligible types of Business	· Start-up · Home-based businesses · Part owned · A business that has been used to qualify for QLD SBO stream	· Franchising · Part owned · Passive business investment · Service stations · Massage clinics · Taxi/Uber related business	· Sub-tenancy · Ride-share, taxi · Courier Services · A business that has been used to qualify for ACT SBO stream