diff --git a/tests/qtest/migration-helpers.c b/tests/qtest/migration-helpers.c
index 8806dc841e..f215f44467 100644
--- a/tests/qtest/migration-helpers.c
+++ b/tests/qtest/migration-helpers.c
@@ -100,7 +100,8 @@ bool migrate_watch_for_events(QTestState *who, const char *name,
     return false;
 }
 
-void migrate_qmp_fail(QTestState *who, const char *uri, const char *fmt, ...)
+void migrate_qmp_fail(QTestState *who, const char *uri,
+                      const char *channels, const char *fmt, ...)
 {
     va_list ap;
     QDict *args, *err;
@@ -110,7 +111,15 @@ void migrate_qmp_fail(QTestState *who, const char *uri, const char *fmt, ...)
     va_end(ap);
 
     g_assert(!qdict_haskey(args, "uri"));
-    qdict_put_str(args, "uri", uri);
+    if (uri) {
+        qdict_put_str(args, "uri", uri);
+    }
+
+    g_assert(!qdict_haskey(args, "channels"));
+    if (channels) {
+        QObject *channels_obj = qobject_from_json(channels, &error_abort);
+        qdict_put_obj(args, "channels", channels_obj);
+    }
 
     err = qtest_qmp_assert_failure_ref(
         who, "{ 'execute': 'migrate', 'arguments': %p}", args);
diff --git a/tests/qtest/migration-helpers.h b/tests/qtest/migration-helpers.h
index e16a34c796..4e664148a5 100644
--- a/tests/qtest/migration-helpers.h
+++ b/tests/qtest/migration-helpers.h
@@ -33,8 +33,9 @@ G_GNUC_PRINTF(3, 4)
 void migrate_incoming_qmp(QTestState *who, const char *uri,
                           const char *fmt, ...);
 
-G_GNUC_PRINTF(3, 4)
-void migrate_qmp_fail(QTestState *who, const char *uri, const char *fmt, ...);
+G_GNUC_PRINTF(4, 5)
+void migrate_qmp_fail(QTestState *who, const char *uri,
+                      const char *channels, const char *fmt, ...);
 
 void migrate_set_capability(QTestState *who, const char *capability,
                             bool value);
diff --git a/tests/qtest/migration-test.c b/tests/qtest/migration-test.c
index 0c76fe2615..763ff27f33 100644
--- a/tests/qtest/migration-test.c
+++ b/tests/qtest/migration-test.c
@@ -1717,7 +1717,7 @@ static void test_precopy_common(MigrateCommon *args)
     }
 
     if (args->result == MIG_TEST_QMP_ERROR) {
-        migrate_qmp_fail(from, args->connect_uri, "{}");
+        migrate_qmp_fail(from, args->connect_uri, NULL, "{}");
         goto finish;
     }
 
@@ -1812,7 +1812,7 @@ static void test_file_common(MigrateCommon *args, bool stop_src)
     }
 
     if (args->result == MIG_TEST_QMP_ERROR) {
-        migrate_qmp_fail(from, args->connect_uri, "{}");
+        migrate_qmp_fail(from, args->connect_uri, NULL, "{}");
         goto finish;
     }