diff --git a/fs/io_uring.c b/fs/io_uring.c
index 79a5d70f542f5a7dcc714482e72dc4769cc34a86..aa80500500ac8b7e8456f82591745b0cb52f54b4 100644
--- a/fs/io_uring.c
+++ b/fs/io_uring.c
@@ -2022,6 +2022,15 @@ static int io_queue_sqe(struct io_ring_ctx *ctx, struct io_kiocb *req,
 {
 	int ret;
 
+	ret = io_req_defer(ctx, req, s->sqe);
+	if (ret) {
+		if (ret != -EIOCBQUEUED) {
+			io_free_req(req);
+			io_cqring_add_event(ctx, s->sqe->user_data, ret);
+		}
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	ret = __io_submit_sqe(ctx, req, s, true);
 	if (ret == -EAGAIN && !(req->flags & REQ_F_NOWAIT)) {
 		struct io_uring_sqe *sqe_copy;
@@ -2094,13 +2103,6 @@ static void io_submit_sqe(struct io_ring_ctx *ctx, struct sqe_submit *s,
 		return;
 	}
 
-	ret = io_req_defer(ctx, req, s->sqe);
-	if (ret) {
-		if (ret != -EIOCBQUEUED)
-			goto err_req;
-		return;
-	}
-
 	/*
 	 * If we already have a head request, queue this one for async
 	 * submittal once the head completes. If we don't have a head but