diff --git a/pkg/controller/controller.go b/pkg/controller/controller.go
index 0ba954623..944a8f2c9 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/controller.go
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ func (m *CertificateApprover) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request) (
 func reconcileLimits(csrName string, machines []machinehandlerpkg.Machine, nodes *corev1.NodeList, csrs *certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequestList) bool {
 	maxPending := getMaxPending(machines, nodes)
 	atomic.StoreUint32(&MaxPendingCSRs, uint32(maxPending))
-	pending := recentlyPendingCSRs(csrs.Items)
+	pending := recentlyPendingNodeCSRs(csrs.Items)
 	atomic.StoreUint32(&PendingCSRs, uint32(pending))
 	if pending > maxPending {
 		klog.Errorf("%v: Pending CSRs: %d; Max pending allowed: %d. Difference between pending CSRs and machines > %v. Ignoring all CSRs as too many recent pending CSRs seen", csrName, pending, maxPending, maxDiffBetweenPendingCSRsAndMachinesCount)
diff --git a/pkg/controller/csr_check.go b/pkg/controller/csr_check.go
index f13e50ef3..3ac273561 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/csr_check.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/csr_check.go
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ func isApprovedByCMA(csr certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest) bool {
 	return false
 }
 
-func recentlyPendingCSRs(csrs []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest) int {
+func recentlyPendingNodeCSRs(csrs []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest) int {
 	// assumes we are scheduled on the master meaning our clock is the same
 	currentTime := now()
 	start := currentTime.Add(-maxPendingDelta)
@@ -510,7 +510,7 @@ func recentlyPendingCSRs(csrs []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest) int {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		if !isApproved(csr) {
+		if (isReqFromNodeBootstrapper(&csr) || isRequestFromNodeUser(csr)) && !isApproved(csr) {
 			pending++
 		}
 	}
@@ -518,6 +518,10 @@ func recentlyPendingCSRs(csrs []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest) int {
 	return pending
 }
 
+func isRequestFromNodeUser(csr certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest) bool {
+	return strings.HasPrefix(csr.Spec.Username, nodeUserPrefix)
+}
+
 // getServingCert fetches the node by the given name and attempts to connect to
 // its kubelet on the first advertised address.
 //
diff --git a/pkg/controller/csr_check_test.go b/pkg/controller/csr_check_test.go
index 01c19830f..ba93baa04 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/csr_check_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/csr_check_test.go
@@ -1924,14 +1924,29 @@ func TestGetServingCert(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestRecentlyPendingCSRs(t *testing.T) {
-	approvedCSR := certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{
+func TestRecentlyPendingNodeBootstrapperCSRs(t *testing.T) {
+	approvedNodeBootstrapperCSR := certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{
+		Spec: certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequestSpec{
+			Username: nodeBootstrapperUsername,
+			Groups:   nodeBootstrapperGroups.List(),
+		},
 		Status: certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequestStatus{
 			Conditions: []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequestCondition{{
 				Type: certificatesv1.CertificateApproved,
 			}},
 		},
 	}
+	pendingNodeBootstrapperCSR := certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{
+		Spec: certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequestSpec{
+			Username: nodeBootstrapperUsername,
+			Groups:   nodeBootstrapperGroups.List(),
+		},
+	}
+	pendingNodeServerCSR := certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{
+		Spec: certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequestSpec{
+			Username: nodeUserPrefix + "clustername-abcde-master-us-west-1a-0",
+		},
+	}
 	pendingCSR := certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{}
 	pendingTime := baseTime.Add(time.Second)
 	pastApprovalTime := baseTime.Add(-maxPendingDelta)
@@ -1948,44 +1963,56 @@ func TestRecentlyPendingCSRs(t *testing.T) {
 		expectPending int
 	}{
 		{
-			name:          "recently pending csr",
-			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(pendingTime, pendingCSR)},
+			name:          "recently pending Node bootstrapper csr",
+			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(pendingTime, pendingNodeBootstrapperCSR)},
+			expectPending: 1,
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "recently pending Node csr",
+			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(pendingTime, pendingNodeServerCSR)},
 			expectPending: 1,
 		},
+		{
+			name:          "recently pending unknown csr",
+			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(pendingTime, pendingCSR)},
+			expectPending: 0,
+		},
 		{
 			name:          "recently approved csr",
-			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(pendingTime, approvedCSR)},
+			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(pendingTime, approvedNodeBootstrapperCSR)},
 			expectPending: 0,
 		},
 		{
 			name:          "pending past approval time",
-			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(pastApprovalTime, pendingCSR)},
+			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(pastApprovalTime, pendingNodeBootstrapperCSR)},
 			expectPending: 0,
 		},
 		{
 			name:          "pending before approval time",
-			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(preApprovalTime, pendingCSR)},
+			csrs:          []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{createdAt(preApprovalTime, pendingNodeBootstrapperCSR)},
 			expectPending: 0,
 		},
 		{
 			name: "multiple different csrs",
 			csrs: []certificatesv1.CertificateSigningRequest{
-				createdAt(pendingTime, pendingCSR),
-				createdAt(pendingTime, pendingCSR),
+				createdAt(pendingTime, pendingNodeBootstrapperCSR),
+				createdAt(pendingTime, pendingNodeBootstrapperCSR),
+				createdAt(pendingTime, pendingNodeServerCSR),
 
-				createdAt(pendingTime, approvedCSR),
-				createdAt(preApprovalTime, approvedCSR),
-				createdAt(pastApprovalTime, approvedCSR),
-				createdAt(preApprovalTime, pendingCSR),
-				createdAt(pastApprovalTime, pendingCSR),
+				createdAt(pendingTime, pendingCSR),
+				createdAt(pendingTime, approvedNodeBootstrapperCSR),
+				createdAt(preApprovalTime, approvedNodeBootstrapperCSR),
+				createdAt(pastApprovalTime, approvedNodeBootstrapperCSR),
+				createdAt(preApprovalTime, pendingNodeBootstrapperCSR),
+				createdAt(pastApprovalTime, pendingNodeBootstrapperCSR),
 			},
-			expectPending: 2,
+			expectPending: 3,
 		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			if pending := recentlyPendingCSRs(tt.csrs); pending != tt.expectPending {
+			if pending := recentlyPendingNodeCSRs(tt.csrs); pending != tt.expectPending {
 				t.Errorf("Expected %v pending CSRs, got: %v", tt.expectPending, pending)
 			}
 		})
diff --git a/pkg/metrics/metrics.go b/pkg/metrics/metrics.go
index 113858473..4ff5b3638 100644
--- a/pkg/metrics/metrics.go
+++ b/pkg/metrics/metrics.go
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ import (
 const DefaultMetricsPort = ":9191"
 
 var (
-	// CurrentPendingCSRCountDesc is a metric to report count of the pending csr in the cluster
-	CurrentPendingCSRCountDesc = prometheus.NewDesc("mapi_current_pending_csr", "Count of pending CSRs at the cluster level", nil, nil)
-	// MaxPendingCSRDesc is a metric to report threshold value of the pending csr beyond which csr will be ignored
-	MaxPendingCSRDesc = prometheus.NewDesc("mapi_max_pending_csr", "Threshold value of the pending CSRs beyond which any new CSR requests will be ignored ", nil, nil)
+	// CurrentPendingCSRCountDesc is a metric to report count of pending node CSRs in the cluster
+	CurrentPendingCSRCountDesc = prometheus.NewDesc("mapi_current_pending_csr", "Count of recently pending node CSRs at the cluster level", nil, nil)
+	// MaxPendingCSRDesc is a metric to report threshold value of the pending node CSRs beyond which all CSR will be ignored by machine approver
+	MaxPendingCSRDesc = prometheus.NewDesc("mapi_max_pending_csr", "Threshold value of the pending node CSRs beyond which all CSR will be ignored by machine approver", nil, nil)
 )
 
 func init() {