diff --git a/test/e2e_node/device_plugin_test.go b/test/e2e_node/device_plugin_test.go
index 9a4e3382f93..755589c1578 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/device_plugin_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/device_plugin_test.go
@@ -130,14 +130,16 @@ func testDevicePlugin(f *framework.Framework, pluginSockDir string) {
 
 			ginkgo.By("Waiting for devices to become available on the local node")
 			gomega.Eventually(func() bool {
-				return numberOfSampleResources(getLocalNode(f)) > 0
+				node, ready := getLocalTestNode(f)
+				return ready && numberOfSampleResources(node) > 0
 			}, 5*time.Minute, framework.Poll).Should(gomega.BeTrue())
 			framework.Logf("Successfully created device plugin pod")
 
 			ginkgo.By("Waiting for the resource exported by the sample device plugin to become available on the local node")
 			gomega.Eventually(func() bool {
-				node := getLocalNode(f)
-				return numberOfDevicesCapacity(node, resourceName) == devsLen &&
+				node, ready := getLocalTestNode(f)
+				return ready &&
+					numberOfDevicesCapacity(node, resourceName) == devsLen &&
 					numberOfDevicesAllocatable(node, resourceName) == devsLen
 			}, 30*time.Second, framework.Poll).Should(gomega.BeTrue())
 		})
@@ -162,8 +164,11 @@ func testDevicePlugin(f *framework.Framework, pluginSockDir string) {
 
 			ginkgo.By("Waiting for devices to become unavailable on the local node")
 			gomega.Eventually(func() bool {
-				return numberOfSampleResources(getLocalNode(f)) <= 0
+				node, ready := getLocalTestNode(f)
+				return ready && numberOfSampleResources(node) <= 0
 			}, 5*time.Minute, framework.Poll).Should(gomega.BeTrue())
+
+			ginkgo.By("devices now unavailable on the local node")
 		})
 
 		ginkgo.It("Can schedule a pod that requires a device", func() {
@@ -284,8 +289,9 @@ func testDevicePlugin(f *framework.Framework, pluginSockDir string) {
 
 			ginkgo.By("Waiting for resource to become available on the local node after re-registration")
 			gomega.Eventually(func() bool {
-				node := getLocalNode(f)
-				return numberOfDevicesCapacity(node, resourceName) == devsLen &&
+				node, ready := getLocalTestNode(f)
+				return ready &&
+					numberOfDevicesCapacity(node, resourceName) == devsLen &&
 					numberOfDevicesAllocatable(node, resourceName) == devsLen
 			}, 30*time.Second, framework.Poll).Should(gomega.BeTrue())
 
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/util.go b/test/e2e_node/util.go
index 25185255c94..220fc3b15d6 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/util.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/util.go
@@ -254,6 +254,19 @@ func getLocalNode(f *framework.Framework) *v1.Node {
 	return &nodeList.Items[0]
 }
 
+// getLocalTestNode fetches the node object describing the local worker node set up by the e2e_node infra, alongside with its ready state.
+// getLocalTestNode is a variant of `getLocalNode` which reports but does not set any requirement about the node readiness state, letting
+// the caller decide. The check is intentionally done like `getLocalNode` does.
+// Note `getLocalNode` aborts (as in ginkgo.Expect) the test implicitly if the worker node is not ready.
+func getLocalTestNode(f *framework.Framework) (*v1.Node, bool) {
+	node, err := f.ClientSet.CoreV1().Nodes().Get(context.TODO(), framework.TestContext.NodeName, metav1.GetOptions{})
+	framework.ExpectNoError(err)
+	ready := e2enode.IsNodeReady(node)
+	schedulable := e2enode.IsNodeSchedulable(node)
+	framework.Logf("node %q ready=%v schedulable=%v", node.Name, ready, schedulable)
+	return node, ready && schedulable
+}
+
 // logKubeletLatencyMetrics logs KubeletLatencyMetrics computed from the Prometheus
 // metrics exposed on the current node and identified by the metricNames.
 // The Kubelet subsystem prefix is automatically prepended to these metric names.