diff --git a/metadata/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/metadata/migration/KRaftMigrationDriver.java b/metadata/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/metadata/migration/KRaftMigrationDriver.java
index 61b95c091d6dc..ac63a66a08934 100644
--- a/metadata/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/metadata/migration/KRaftMigrationDriver.java
+++ b/metadata/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/metadata/migration/KRaftMigrationDriver.java
@@ -359,6 +359,9 @@ public String name() {
     @Override
     public void onControllerChange(LeaderAndEpoch newLeaderAndEpoch) {
         curLeaderAndEpoch = newLeaderAndEpoch;
+        if (migrationState.equals(MigrationDriverState.UNINITIALIZED)) {
+            eventQueue.append(new RecoverMigrationStateFromZKEvent());
+        }
         eventQueue.append(new KRaftLeaderEvent(newLeaderAndEpoch));
     }