diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/rdma.c b/drivers/nvme/host/rdma.c
index 2d4a51a80e8f..2b683b8d4763 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/rdma.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/rdma.c
@@ -1759,6 +1759,8 @@ static void nvme_rdma_shutdown_ctrl(struct nvme_rdma_ctrl *ctrl, bool shutdown)
 		nvme_rdma_stop_io_queues(ctrl);
 		blk_mq_tagset_busy_iter(&ctrl->tag_set,
 					nvme_cancel_request, &ctrl->ctrl);
+		if (shutdown)
+			nvme_start_queues(&ctrl->ctrl);
 		nvme_rdma_destroy_io_queues(ctrl, shutdown);
 	}