diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 7fbd5ef143..4219773964 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -1249,6 +1249,20 @@ qemuDomainDefAddDefaultDevices(virDomainDefPtr def,
static void
qemuDomainDefEnableDefaultFeatures(virDomainDefPtr def)
{
+ switch (def->os.arch) {
+ case VIR_ARCH_ARMV7L:
+ case VIR_ARCH_AARCH64:
+ if (STREQ(def->os.machine, "virt") ||
+ STRPREFIX(def->os.machine, "virt-")) {
+ /* GIC is always available to ARM virt machines */
+ def->features[VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_GIC] = VIR_TRISTATE_SWITCH_ON;
+ }
+ break;
+
+ default:
+ break;
+ }
+
/* Default to GIC v2 if no version was specified */
if (def->features[VIR_DOMAIN_FEATURE_GIC] == VIR_TRISTATE_SWITCH_ON &&
def->gic_version == VIR_GIC_VERSION_NONE)
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-aarch64-aavmf-virtio-mmio.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-aarch64-aavmf-virtio-mmio.xml
index 4a31c8b1cc..8c7428cf82 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-aarch64-aavmf-virtio-mmio.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-aarch64-aavmf-virtio-mmio.xml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
+
cortex-a53
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-aavmf-virtio-mmio.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-aavmf-virtio-mmio.xml
index f79c6e72a1..2f1f8dd3de 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-aavmf-virtio-mmio.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-aavmf-virtio-mmio.xml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
+
cortex-a53
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-virtio-pci-default.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-virtio-pci-default.xml
index 6f1c53b26d..415d041a39 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-virtio-pci-default.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-virtio-pci-default.xml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
+
cortex-a53
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-virtio-pci-manual-addresses.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-virtio-pci-manual-addresses.xml
index 4add271a83..0ee40f5eaa 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-virtio-pci-manual-addresses.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-aarch64-virtio-pci-manual-addresses.xml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
+
cortex-a53