diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index e285e9373ca4017471baac5eb330e7672718a012..ac1e1e2f8f03e976d5ad99971bbf5e13d3dd0731 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -17236,6 +17236,13 @@ qemuDomainBlockPivot(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     bool blockdev = virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV);
     g_autoptr(virJSONValue) actions = NULL;
 
+    if (job->state != QEMU_BLOCKJOB_STATE_READY) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_BLOCK_COPY_ACTIVE,
+                       _("block job '%s' not ready for pivot yet"),
+                       job->name);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
     switch ((qemuBlockJobType) job->type) {
     case QEMU_BLOCKJOB_TYPE_NONE:
     case QEMU_BLOCKJOB_TYPE_LAST:
@@ -17273,13 +17280,6 @@ qemuDomainBlockPivot(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         break;
     }
 
-    if (job->state != QEMU_BLOCKJOB_STATE_READY) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_BLOCK_COPY_ACTIVE,
-                       _("block job '%s' not ready for pivot yet"),
-                       job->name);
-        return -1;
-    }
-
     qemuDomainObjEnterMonitor(driver, vm);
     if (blockdev) {
         int rc = 0;