diff --git a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init.go b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init.go
index 841c85ecb85..56cb0e7557c 100644
--- a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init.go
+++ b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init.go
@@ -455,6 +455,7 @@ func createAPIServer(clientset *client.Clientset, namespace, name, image, creden
 		"--client-ca-file=/etc/federation/apiserver/ca.crt",
 		"--tls-cert-file=/etc/federation/apiserver/server.crt",
 		"--tls-private-key-file=/etc/federation/apiserver/server.key",
+		"--admission-control=NamespaceLifecycle",
 		fmt.Sprintf("--storage-backend=%s", storageBackend),
 	}
 
diff --git a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go
index 42ccfde7d7a..5fbd61409c5 100644
--- a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go
+++ b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go
@@ -644,6 +644,7 @@ func fakeInitHostFactory(federationName, namespaceName, ip, dnsZoneName, image,
 								"--client-ca-file=/etc/federation/apiserver/ca.crt",
 								"--tls-cert-file=/etc/federation/apiserver/server.crt",
 								"--tls-private-key-file=/etc/federation/apiserver/server.key",
+								"--admission-control=NamespaceLifecycle",
 								fmt.Sprintf("--storage-backend=%s", storageProvider),
 								"--advertise-address=" + ip,
 							},