diff --git a/pkg/apis/machine/v1beta1/machine_types.go b/pkg/apis/machine/v1beta1/machine_types.go
index 0bbc48f5a768..279d8fca26db 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/machine/v1beta1/machine_types.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/machine/v1beta1/machine_types.go
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ const (
 	// MachineClusterIDLabel is the label that a machine must have to identify the
 	// cluster to which it belongs.
 	MachineClusterIDLabel = "machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-cluster"
+
+	// PreserveInstanceAnnotation prevents a VM from being deleted by the
+	// machine-controller and will cause machine-controller to requeue.
+	PreserveInstanceAnnotation = "machine.openshift.io/preserve-instance"
 )
 
 // +genclient
diff --git a/pkg/controller/machine/controller.go b/pkg/controller/machine/controller.go
index f5aa0e182ee2..34530c0565d8 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/machine/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/machine/controller.go
@@ -335,24 +335,8 @@ func (r *ReconcileMachine) getCluster(ctx context.Context, machine *machinev1.Ma
 }
 
 func (r *ReconcileMachine) isDeleteAllowed(machine *machinev1.Machine) bool {
-	if r.nodeName == "" || machine.Status.NodeRef == nil {
-		return true
-	}
-
-	if machine.Status.NodeRef.Name != r.nodeName {
-		return true
-	}
-
-	node := &corev1.Node{}
-	if err := r.Client.Get(context.Background(), client.ObjectKey{Name: r.nodeName}, node); err != nil {
-		klog.Infof("Failed to determine if controller's node %q is associated with machine %q: %v", r.nodeName, machine.Name, err)
-		return true
-	}
-
-	// When the UID of the machine's node reference and this controller's actual node match then then the request is to
-	// delete the machine this machine-controller is running on. Return false to not allow machine controller to delete its
-	// own machine.
-	return node.UID != machine.Status.NodeRef.UID
+	_, exists := machine.ObjectMeta.Annotations[machinev1.PreserveInstanceAnnotation]
+	return !exists
 }
 
 func (r *ReconcileMachine) deleteNode(ctx context.Context, name string) error {