diff --git a/drivers/usb/serial/generic.c b/drivers/usb/serial/generic.c
index 31f78290c0e4bcbf143b14428c70b04273f32583..2b01ec8651c296e3f016bf2421040da6f1bbbc98 100644
--- a/drivers/usb/serial/generic.c
+++ b/drivers/usb/serial/generic.c
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ int usb_serial_generic_prepare_write_buffer(struct usb_serial_port *port,
  *
  * Return: Zero on success or if busy, otherwise a negative errno value.
  */
-static int usb_serial_generic_write_start(struct usb_serial_port *port,
+int usb_serial_generic_write_start(struct usb_serial_port *port,
 							gfp_t mem_flags)
 {
 	struct urb *urb;
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ static int usb_serial_generic_write_start(struct usb_serial_port *port,
 
 	return 0;
 }
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(usb_serial_generic_write_start);
 
 /**
  * usb_serial_generic_write - generic write function
diff --git a/include/linux/usb/serial.h b/include/linux/usb/serial.h
index d528b804515081f9d5388dc565822241cfd6adc9..704a1ab8240ca124f29c5ce361c871090d28ea5b 100644
--- a/include/linux/usb/serial.h
+++ b/include/linux/usb/serial.h
@@ -320,6 +320,8 @@ extern struct usb_serial_port *usb_serial_port_get_by_minor(unsigned int minor);
 extern void usb_serial_put(struct usb_serial *serial);
 extern int usb_serial_generic_open(struct tty_struct *tty,
 	struct usb_serial_port *port);
+extern int usb_serial_generic_write_start(struct usb_serial_port *port,
+							gfp_t mem_flags);
 extern int usb_serial_generic_write(struct tty_struct *tty,
 	struct usb_serial_port *port, const unsigned char *buf, int count);
 extern void usb_serial_generic_close(struct usb_serial_port *port);