diff --git a/docs/config_reference.rst b/docs/config_reference.rst
index 9fdf9aa7fe..7259cca0bb 100644
--- a/docs/config_reference.rst
+++ b/docs/config_reference.rst
@@ -961,6 +961,17 @@ Common scheduler options
    For a detailed description of this property, you may refer `here <#.environments[].target_systems>`__.
 
 
+.. js:attribute:: .schedulers[].ignore_reqnodenotavail
+
+   :required: No
+   :default: ``false``
+
+   This option is relevant to the Slurm backends only.
+
+   If a job associated to a test is in pending state with the Slurm reason ``ReqNodeNotAvail`` and a list of unavailable nodes is also specified, ReFrame will check the status of the nodes and, if all of them are indeed down, it will cancel the job.
+   Sometimes, however, when Slurm's backfill algorithm takes too long to compute, Slurm will set the pending reason to ``ReqNodeNotAvail`` and mark all system nodes as unavailable, causing ReFrame to kill the job.
+   In such cases, you may set this parameter to ``true`` to avoid this.
+
 
 Execution Mode Configuration
 ----------------------------
diff --git a/docs/manpage.rst b/docs/manpage.rst
index 9cdd059812..0aca1c086a 100644
--- a/docs/manpage.rst
+++ b/docs/manpage.rst
@@ -635,6 +635,19 @@ Here is an alphabetical list of the environment variables recognized by ReFrame:
       ================================== ==================
 
 
+.. envvar:: RFM_IGNORE_REQNODENOTAVAIL
+
+   Do not treat specially jobs in pending state with the reason ``ReqNodeNotAvail`` (Slurm only).
+
+   .. table::
+      :align: left
+
+      ================================== ==================
+      Associated command line option     N/A
+      Associated configuration parameter :js:attr:`ignore_reqnodenotavail` scheduler configuration parameter
+      ================================== ==================
+
+
 .. envvar:: RFM_KEEP_STAGE_FILES
 
    Keep test stage directories even for tests that finish successfully.
diff --git a/reframe/core/schedulers/slurm.py b/reframe/core/schedulers/slurm.py
index 279774899b..44ec36e87b 100644
--- a/reframe/core/schedulers/slurm.py
+++ b/reframe/core/schedulers/slurm.py
@@ -97,8 +97,13 @@ def __init__(self):
                                 'PartitionNodeLimit',
                                 'QOSJobLimit',
                                 'QOSResourceLimit',
-                                'ReqNodeNotAvail',
                                 'QOSUsageThreshold']
+        ignore_reqnodenotavail = rt.runtime().get_option(
+            f'schedulers/@{self.registered_name}/ignore_reqnodenotavail'
+        )
+        if not ignore_reqnodenotavail:
+            self._cancel_reasons.append('ReqNodeNotAvail')
+
         self._is_cancelling = False
         self._is_job_array = None
         self._update_state_count = 0
diff --git a/reframe/frontend/cli.py b/reframe/frontend/cli.py
index 1c48bec6bc..4701681662 100644
--- a/reframe/frontend/cli.py
+++ b/reframe/frontend/cli.py
@@ -351,6 +351,13 @@ def main():
         configvar='logging/handlers_perflog/graylog_address',
         help='Graylog server address'
     )
+    argparser.add_argument(
+        dest='ignore_reqnodenotavail',
+        envvar='RFM_IGNORE_REQNODENOTAVAIL',
+        configvar='schedulers/ignore_reqnodenotavail',
+        action='store_true',
+        help='Graylog server address'
+    )
     argparser.add_argument(
         dest='use_login_shell',
         envvar='RFM_USE_LOGIN_SHELL',
diff --git a/reframe/schemas/config.json b/reframe/schemas/config.json
index dc7c05b442..da54649375 100644
--- a/reframe/schemas/config.json
+++ b/reframe/schemas/config.json
@@ -273,7 +273,11 @@
             "items": {
                 "type": "object",
                 "properties": {
-                    "name": {"type": "string"},
+                    "name": {
+                        "type": "string",
+                        "enum": ["local", "pbs", "slurm", "squeue", "torque"]
+                    },
+                    "ignore_reqnodenotavail": {"type": "boolean"},
                     "job_submit_timeout": {"type": "number"},
                     "target_systems": {"$ref": "#/defs/system_ref"}
                 },
@@ -417,6 +421,7 @@
         "logging/handlers*/syslog_facility": "user",
         "modes/options": [],
         "modes/target_systems": ["*"],
+        "schedulers/ignore_reqnodenotavail": false,
         "schedulers/job_submit_timeout": 60,
         "schedulers/target_systems": ["*"],
         "systems/descr": "",