diff --git a/pkg/controller/cloud/node_lifecycle_controller.go b/pkg/controller/cloud/node_lifecycle_controller.go
index 078b2bf17c2..8509a712e55 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/cloud/node_lifecycle_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/cloud/node_lifecycle_controller.go
@@ -147,24 +147,6 @@ func (c *CloudNodeLifecycleController) MonitorNodes() {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		// we need to check this first to get taint working in similar in all cloudproviders
-		// current problem is that shutdown nodes are not working in similar way ie. all cloudproviders
-		// does not delete node from kubernetes cluster when instance it is shutdown see issue #46442
-		shutdown, err := shutdownInCloudProvider(context.TODO(), c.cloud, node)
-		if err != nil {
-			klog.Errorf("error checking if node %s is shutdown: %v", node.Name, err)
-		}
-
-		if shutdown && err == nil {
-			// if node is shutdown add shutdown taint
-			err = controller.AddOrUpdateTaintOnNode(c.kubeClient, node.Name, ShutdownTaint)
-			if err != nil {
-				klog.Errorf("failed to apply shutdown taint to node %s, it may have been deleted.", node.Name)
-			}
-			// Continue checking the remaining nodes since the current one is shutdown.
-			continue
-		}
-
 		// At this point the node has NotReady status, we need to check if the node has been removed
 		// from the cloud provider. If node cannot be found in cloudprovider, then delete the node
 		exists, err := ensureNodeExistsByProviderID(context.TODO(), instances, node)
@@ -173,26 +155,41 @@ func (c *CloudNodeLifecycleController) MonitorNodes() {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		if exists {
-			// Continue checking the remaining nodes since the current one is fine.
-			continue
-		}
+		if !exists {
+			// Current node does not exist, we should delete it, its taints do not matter anymore
 
-		klog.V(2).Infof("deleting node since it is no longer present in cloud provider: %s", node.Name)
+			klog.V(2).Infof("deleting node since it is no longer present in cloud provider: %s", node.Name)
 
-		ref := &v1.ObjectReference{
-			Kind:      "Node",
-			Name:      node.Name,
-			UID:       types.UID(node.UID),
-			Namespace: "",
-		}
+			ref := &v1.ObjectReference{
+				Kind:      "Node",
+				Name:      node.Name,
+				UID:       types.UID(node.UID),
+				Namespace: "",
+			}
 
-		c.recorder.Eventf(ref, v1.EventTypeNormal,
-			fmt.Sprintf("Deleting node %v because it does not exist in the cloud provider", node.Name),
-			"Node %s event: %s", node.Name, deleteNodeEvent)
+			c.recorder.Eventf(ref, v1.EventTypeNormal,
+				fmt.Sprintf("Deleting node %v because it does not exist in the cloud provider", node.Name),
+				"Node %s event: %s", node.Name, deleteNodeEvent)
 
-		if err := c.kubeClient.CoreV1().Nodes().Delete(context.TODO(), node.Name, metav1.DeleteOptions{}); err != nil {
-			klog.Errorf("unable to delete node %q: %v", node.Name, err)
+			if err := c.kubeClient.CoreV1().Nodes().Delete(context.TODO(), node.Name, metav1.DeleteOptions{}); err != nil {
+				klog.Errorf("unable to delete node %q: %v", node.Name, err)
+			}
+		} else {
+			// Node exists. We need to check this to get taint working in similar in all cloudproviders
+			// current problem is that shutdown nodes are not working in similar way ie. all cloudproviders
+			// does not delete node from kubernetes cluster when instance it is shutdown see issue #46442
+			shutdown, err := shutdownInCloudProvider(context.TODO(), c.cloud, node)
+			if err != nil {
+				klog.Errorf("error checking if node %s is shutdown: %v", node.Name, err)
+			}
+
+			if shutdown && err == nil {
+				// if node is shutdown add shutdown taint
+				err = controller.AddOrUpdateTaintOnNode(c.kubeClient, node.Name, ShutdownTaint)
+				if err != nil {
+					klog.Errorf("failed to apply shutdown taint to node %s, it may have been deleted.", node.Name)
+				}
+			}
 		}
 	}
 }