diff --git a/pkg/apis/machine/v1beta1/machine_types.go b/pkg/apis/machine/v1beta1/machine_types.go
index 62ec393376ac..b38893541774 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 f2f1711997e3..f36fcf0f70b5 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/machine/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/machine/controller.go
@@ -313,6 +313,11 @@ func (r *ReconcileMachine) getCluster(ctx context.Context, machine *machinev1.Ma
 }
 
 func (r *ReconcileMachine) isDeleteAllowed(machine *machinev1.Machine) bool {
+	_, exists := machine.ObjectMeta.Annotations[machinev1.PreserveInstanceAnnotation]
+	if exists {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	if r.nodeName == "" || machine.Status.NodeRef == nil {
 		return true
 	}