diff --git a/.buildkite/pipeline.yml b/.buildkite/pipeline.yml
index a2624bd0..c2ee46c9 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipeline.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipeline.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ steps:
           intel: "*"
         commands: |
           julia --project=deps deps/build_ci.jl
-        if: build.message !~ /\[skip tests\]/
+        if: build.message !~ /\[skip tests\]/ && build.message !~ /\[skip julia\]/
         timeout_in_minutes: 120
         matrix:
           setup:
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ steps:
               # use debug JLLs, for asserts + better backtraces
               using oneAPI
               oneAPI.set_debug!(true)'
-        if: build.message !~ /\[skip tests\]/
         env:
           ZE_ENABLE_VALIDATION_LAYER: '1'
           ZE_ENABLE_PARAMETER_VALIDATION: '1'
@@ -64,7 +63,7 @@ steps:
         agents:
           queue: "juliagpu"
           intel: "*"
-        if: build.message !~ /\[skip tests\]/ && !build.pull_request.draft
+        if: build.message !~ /\[skip tests\]/ && build.message !~ /\[skip special\]/ && !build.pull_request.draft
         timeout_in_minutes: 60
 
 env:
diff --git a/test/onemkl.jl b/test/onemkl.jl
index bba63e40..19f06926 100644
--- a/test/onemkl.jl
+++ b/test/onemkl.jl
@@ -27,12 +27,10 @@ k = 13
             @test testf(axpy!, alpha, rand(T,m), rand(T,m))
         end
 
-        if !validation_layer # oneapi-src/oneMKL#473
-            @testset "axpby" begin
-                alpha = rand(T)
-                beta = rand(T)
-                @test testf(axpby!, alpha, rand(T,m), beta, rand(T,m))
-            end
+        @testset "axpby" begin
+            alpha = rand(T)
+            beta = rand(T)
+            @test testf(axpby!, alpha, rand(T,m), beta, rand(T,m))
         end
 
         @testset "rotate" begin
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index c8dab5c3..61a38ac4 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -79,11 +79,9 @@ for (rootpath, dirs, files) in walkdir(@__DIR__)
   end
 end
 ## GPUArrays testsuite
-if !validation_layer # oneapi-src/oneMKL#473
-    for name in keys(TestSuite.tests)
-        push!(tests, "gpuarrays$(Base.Filesystem.path_separator)$name")
-        test_runners["gpuarrays$(Base.Filesystem.path_separator)$name"] = ()->TestSuite.tests[name](oneArray)
-    end
+for name in keys(TestSuite.tests)
+    push!(tests, "gpuarrays$(Base.Filesystem.path_separator)$name")
+    test_runners["gpuarrays$(Base.Filesystem.path_separator)$name"] = ()->TestSuite.tests[name](oneArray)
 end
 unique!(tests)