diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_migration_params.c b/src/qemu/qemu_migration_params.c
index 77abc7191f..548bb1c0dd 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_migration_params.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_migration_params.c
@@ -591,6 +591,53 @@ qemuMigrationParamsToJSON(qemuMigrationParamsPtr migParams)
 }
 
 
+virJSONValuePtr
+qemuMigrationCapsToJSON(virBitmapPtr caps,
+                        virBitmapPtr states)
+{
+    virJSONValuePtr json = NULL;
+    virJSONValuePtr cap = NULL;
+    qemuMonitorMigrationCaps bit;
+    const char *name;
+
+    if (!(json = virJSONValueNewArray()))
+        return NULL;
+
+    for (bit = 0; bit < QEMU_MONITOR_MIGRATION_CAPS_LAST; bit++) {
+        bool supported = false;
+        bool state = false;
+
+        ignore_value(virBitmapGetBit(caps, bit, &supported));
+        if (!supported)
+            continue;
+
+        ignore_value(virBitmapGetBit(states, bit, &state));
+
+        if (!(cap = virJSONValueNewObject()))
+            goto error;
+
+        name = qemuMonitorMigrationCapsTypeToString(bit);
+        if (virJSONValueObjectAppendString(cap, "capability", name) < 0)
+            goto error;
+
+        if (virJSONValueObjectAppendBoolean(cap, "state", state) < 0)
+            goto error;
+
+        if (virJSONValueArrayAppend(json, cap) < 0)
+            goto error;
+
+        cap = NULL;
+    }
+
+    return json;
+
+ error:
+    virJSONValueFree(json);
+    virJSONValueFree(cap);
+    return NULL;
+}
+
+
 /**
  * qemuMigrationParamsApply
  * @driver: qemu driver
@@ -611,6 +658,7 @@ qemuMigrationParamsApply(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
     bool xbzrleCacheSize_old = false;
     virJSONValuePtr params = NULL;
+    virJSONValuePtr caps = NULL;
     qemuMigrationParam xbzrle = QEMU_MIGRATION_PARAM_XBZRLE_CACHE_SIZE;
     int ret = -1;
     int rc;
@@ -618,10 +666,16 @@ qemuMigrationParamsApply(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     if (qemuDomainObjEnterMonitorAsync(driver, vm, asyncJob) < 0)
         return -1;
 
-    if (qemuMonitorSetMigrationCapabilities(priv->mon, priv->migrationCaps,
-                                            migParams->caps) < 0)
+    if (!(caps = qemuMigrationCapsToJSON(priv->migrationCaps, migParams->caps)))
         goto cleanup;
 
+    if (virJSONValueArraySize(caps) > 0) {
+        rc = qemuMonitorSetMigrationCapabilities(priv->mon, caps);
+        caps = NULL;
+        if (rc < 0)
+            goto cleanup;
+    }
+
     /* If QEMU is too old to support xbzrle-cache-size migration parameter,
      * we need to set it via migrate-set-cache-size and tell
      * qemuMonitorSetMigrationParams to ignore this parameter.
@@ -974,6 +1028,7 @@ qemuMigrationCapsCheck(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
 {
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
     virBitmapPtr migEvent = NULL;
+    virJSONValuePtr json = NULL;
     char **caps = NULL;
     char **capStr;
     int ret = -1;
@@ -1014,10 +1069,14 @@ qemuMigrationCapsCheck(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
 
         ignore_value(virBitmapSetBit(migEvent, QEMU_MONITOR_MIGRATION_CAPS_EVENTS));
 
+        if (!(json = qemuMigrationCapsToJSON(migEvent, migEvent)))
+            goto cleanup;
+
         if (qemuDomainObjEnterMonitorAsync(driver, vm, asyncJob) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
 
-        rc = qemuMonitorSetMigrationCapabilities(priv->mon, migEvent, migEvent);
+        rc = qemuMonitorSetMigrationCapabilities(priv->mon, json);
+        json = NULL;
 
         if (qemuDomainObjExitMonitor(driver, vm) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
@@ -1039,6 +1098,7 @@ qemuMigrationCapsCheck(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     ret = 0;
 
  cleanup:
+    virJSONValueFree(json);
     virStringListFree(caps);
     return ret;
 }
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_migration_paramspriv.h b/src/qemu/qemu_migration_paramspriv.h
index 350973b6f9..30773a679d 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_migration_paramspriv.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_migration_paramspriv.h
@@ -28,4 +28,8 @@ qemuMigrationParamsToJSON(qemuMigrationParamsPtr migParams);
 qemuMigrationParamsPtr
 qemuMigrationParamsFromJSON(virJSONValuePtr params);
 
+virJSONValuePtr
+qemuMigrationCapsToJSON(virBitmapPtr caps,
+                        virBitmapPtr states);
+
 #endif /* __QEMU_MIGRATION_PARAMSPRIV_H__ */
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
index 108d934444..50036919c4 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
@@ -3957,22 +3957,27 @@ qemuMonitorGetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * qemuMonitorSetMigrationCapabilities:
+ * @mon: Pointer to the monitor object.
+ * @caps: Migration capabilities.
+ *
+ * The @caps object is consumed and should not be referenced by the caller
+ * after this function returns.
+ *
+ * Returns 0 on success, -1 on error.
+ */
 int
 qemuMonitorSetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
-                                    virBitmapPtr caps,
-                                    virBitmapPtr states)
+                                    virJSONValuePtr caps)
 {
-    char *capsStr = virBitmapFormat(caps);
-    char *statesStr = virBitmapFormat(states);
+    QEMU_CHECK_MONITOR_JSON_GOTO(mon, error);
 
-    VIR_DEBUG("caps=%s, states=%s", NULLSTR(capsStr), NULLSTR(statesStr));
+    return qemuMonitorJSONSetMigrationCapabilities(mon, caps);
 
-    VIR_FREE(capsStr);
-    VIR_FREE(statesStr);
-
-    QEMU_CHECK_MONITOR_JSON(mon);
-
-    return qemuMonitorJSONSetMigrationCapabilities(mon, caps, states);
+ error:
+    virJSONValueFree(caps);
+    return -1;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
index a77ad00d16..e444d0a068 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
@@ -728,8 +728,7 @@ VIR_ENUM_DECL(qemuMonitorMigrationCaps);
 int qemuMonitorGetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
                                         char ***capabilities);
 int qemuMonitorSetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
-                                        virBitmapPtr caps,
-                                        virBitmapPtr states);
+                                        virJSONValuePtr caps);
 
 int qemuMonitorGetGICCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
                                   virGICCapability **capabilities);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_json.c b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_json.c
index b00bca7d46..7fd8e756b3 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_json.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_json.c
@@ -6111,47 +6111,14 @@ qemuMonitorJSONGetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
 
 int
 qemuMonitorJSONSetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
-                                        virBitmapPtr caps,
-                                        virBitmapPtr states)
+                                        virJSONValuePtr caps)
 {
     int ret = -1;
-    qemuMonitorMigrationCaps bit;
     virJSONValuePtr cmd = NULL;
     virJSONValuePtr reply = NULL;
-    virJSONValuePtr cap = NULL;
-    virJSONValuePtr array;
-
-    if (!(array = virJSONValueNewArray()))
-        goto cleanup;
-
-    for (bit = 0; bit < QEMU_MONITOR_MIGRATION_CAPS_LAST; bit++) {
-        bool supported = false;
-        bool state = false;
-
-        ignore_value(virBitmapGetBit(caps, bit, &supported));
-        if (!supported)
-            continue;
-
-        ignore_value(virBitmapGetBit(states, bit, &state));
-
-        if (!(cap = virJSONValueNewObject()))
-            goto cleanup;
-
-        if (virJSONValueObjectAppendString(cap, "capability",
-                                           qemuMonitorMigrationCapsTypeToString(bit)) < 0)
-            goto cleanup;
-
-        if (virJSONValueObjectAppendBoolean(cap, "state", state) < 0)
-            goto cleanup;
-
-        if (virJSONValueArrayAppend(array, cap) < 0)
-            goto cleanup;
-
-        cap = NULL;
-    }
 
     cmd = qemuMonitorJSONMakeCommand("migrate-set-capabilities",
-                                     "a:capabilities", &array,
+                                     "a:capabilities", &caps,
                                      NULL);
     if (!cmd)
         goto cleanup;
@@ -6164,8 +6131,7 @@ qemuMonitorJSONSetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
 
     ret = 0;
  cleanup:
-    virJSONValueFree(array);
-    virJSONValueFree(cap);
+    virJSONValueFree(caps);
     virJSONValueFree(cmd);
     virJSONValueFree(reply);
     return ret;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_json.h b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_json.h
index 5ada38b9fa..c6ad83af4c 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_json.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_json.h
@@ -146,8 +146,7 @@ int qemuMonitorJSONGetMigrationStats(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
 int qemuMonitorJSONGetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
                                             char ***capabilities);
 int qemuMonitorJSONSetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
-                                            virBitmapPtr caps,
-                                            virBitmapPtr states);
+                                            virJSONValuePtr caps);
 
 int qemuMonitorJSONGetGICCapabilities(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
                                       virGICCapability **capabilities);
diff --git a/tests/qemumonitorjsontest.c b/tests/qemumonitorjsontest.c
index dafcccebad..697126f298 100644
--- a/tests/qemumonitorjsontest.c
+++ b/tests/qemumonitorjsontest.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include "virstring.h"
 #include "cpu/cpu.h"
 #include "qemu/qemu_monitor.h"
+#include "qemu/qemu_migration_paramspriv.h"
 
 #define VIR_FROM_THIS VIR_FROM_NONE
 
@@ -2141,6 +2142,7 @@ testQemuMonitorJSONqemuMonitorJSONGetMigrationCapabilities(const void *data)
     const char *cap;
     char **caps = NULL;
     virBitmapPtr bitmap = NULL;
+    virJSONValuePtr json = NULL;
     const char *reply =
         "{"
         "    \"return\": ["
@@ -2176,12 +2178,15 @@ testQemuMonitorJSONqemuMonitorJSONGetMigrationCapabilities(const void *data)
         goto cleanup;
 
     ignore_value(virBitmapSetBit(bitmap, QEMU_MONITOR_MIGRATION_CAPS_XBZRLE));
-    if (qemuMonitorJSONSetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorTestGetMonitor(test),
-                                                bitmap, bitmap) < 0)
+    if (!(json = qemuMigrationCapsToJSON(bitmap, bitmap)))
         goto cleanup;
 
-    ret = 0;
+    ret = qemuMonitorJSONSetMigrationCapabilities(qemuMonitorTestGetMonitor(test),
+                                                  json);
+    json = NULL;
+
  cleanup:
+    virJSONValueFree(json);
     qemuMonitorTestFree(test);
     virStringListFree(caps);
     virBitmapFree(bitmap);