EventBridge to SQS when cross region and cross account

Intro

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Delivering a message to a target SQS queue from EventBridge is a very common requirement in an event driven application. Sometimes, this SQS queue can be in a different region and may be in a different AWS account. Depending on where the target SQS queue lives, the approach to how you set up the solution differs.

In this blog post, we are going to see different scenarios on how EventBridge can deliver messages to a target SQS queue when the target SQS queue is in a different region or different AWS account.

Scenario 1: Event bus, rule and target SQS queue in same AWS account, same region

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This is the most common and simplest scenario. Event bus has a rule which directly configured a SQS queue as a target. All the resources are in the same region in the same AWS account.

Scenario 2: Event bus and rule in one region, target SQS queue in another region in the same AWS account

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In this scenario, the Event bus and the rule is in one region. The target SQS queue is in the same AWS account, but in a different region.

As of today (September 2025), EventBridge supports SQS as a target only when it is in the same region.

Because of that, first you have to create a new Event bus (or use the default Event bus) in the 2nd region. And configure the SQS queue as a target of that Event bus. Then, configure the event bus in the second region to be a target in the EventBridge rule of the first region.

Scenario 3: Event bus, rule in one AWS account, target SQS queue in another AWS account, but all are in the same region

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AWS introduced cross account support for EventBridge targets beginning of 2025. Previously, when delivering messages to cross account resource, you had to use a Event bus in the 2nd account to establish the connection (similar to scenario 2 above).

With this new feature, it is possible to have a cross account target which simplifies the message delivery from an event bus to a SQS queue in another account.

However, there is a limitation. Although the cross account delivery is possible, the EventBridge bus and the rule and the target in the 2nd AWS account must be in the same region.

Scenario 4: Event bus, rule in one AWS account, target SQS queue in a different region in another AWS account

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As mentioned earlier, cross account delivery is supported only when the target SQS queue is in the same region. If the SQS queue is in a different region, you have to use an Event bus in the 2nd account in between.

Summary

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The pattern is simple. SQS can be a target in an EventBridge rule when the rule and the SQS queue both are in the same region. Target SQS queue can be in another AWS account as long as the region is the same.

If the SQS queue is in a different region than the EventBridge rule, you have to use an intermediate EventBus in the 2nd region. This intermediate EventBus and the target SQS can be in another AWS account.

Resources

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1. Event bus targets in Amazon EventBridge - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eventbridge/latest/userguide/eb-targets.html

2. Introducing cross-account targets for Amazon EventBridge Event Buses - https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/introducing-cross-account-targets-for-amazon-eventbridge-event-buses/