diff --git a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumerTest.java b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumerTest.java
index 8e6bd01716a5b..405ec6892a2b9 100644
--- a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumerTest.java
+++ b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumerTest.java
@@ -210,6 +210,16 @@ public void testInvalidSocketReceiveBufferSize() {
         new KafkaConsumer<>(config, new ByteArrayDeserializer(), new ByteArrayDeserializer());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void shouldIgnoreGroupInstanceIdForEmptyGroupId() {
+        Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
+        config.put(ConsumerConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, "localhost:9999");
+        config.put(ConsumerConfig.GROUP_INSTANCE_ID_CONFIG, "instance_id");
+        KafkaConsumer<byte[], byte[]> consumer = new KafkaConsumer<>(
+                config, new ByteArrayDeserializer(), new ByteArrayDeserializer());
+        consumer.close();
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testSubscription() {
         KafkaConsumer<byte[], byte[]> consumer = newConsumer(groupId);