diff --git a/io_uring/io_uring.c b/io_uring/io_uring.c
index f1b79959d1c1..f3762283c060 100644
--- a/io_uring/io_uring.c
+++ b/io_uring/io_uring.c
@@ -2032,6 +2032,14 @@ fail:
 		ret = io_issue_sqe(req, issue_flags);
 		if (ret != -EAGAIN)
 			break;
+
+		/*
+		 * If REQ_F_NOWAIT is set, then don't wait or retry with
+		 * poll. -EAGAIN is final for that case.
+		 */
+		if (req->flags & REQ_F_NOWAIT)
+			break;
+
 		/*
 		 * We can get EAGAIN for iopolled IO even though we're
 		 * forcing a sync submission from here, since we can't