diff --git a/internal/services/controller/controller.go b/internal/services/controller/controller.go
index 78293c5c..8c538ff0 100644
--- a/internal/services/controller/controller.go
+++ b/internal/services/controller/controller.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package controller
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"reflect"
 	"regexp"
 	"sync"
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ type Controller struct {
 	clusterID    string
 	castaiclient castai.Client
 	provider     types.Provider
-	queue        workqueue.RateLimitingInterface
+	queue        workqueue.Interface
 	interval     time.Duration
 	prepDuration time.Duration
 	informers    map[reflect.Type]cache.SharedInformer
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ func New(
 		prepDuration: prepDuration,
 		delta:        newDelta(log, clusterID, v.Full()),
 		spotCache:    map[string]bool{},
-		queue:        workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter(), "castai-agent"),
+		queue:        workqueue.NewNamed("castai-agent"),
 		informers:    typeInformerMap,
 		agentVersion: agentVersion,
 	}
@@ -170,7 +171,7 @@ func (c *Controller) nodeDeleteHandler(log logrus.FieldLogger, event event, obj
 
 func genericHandler(
 	log logrus.FieldLogger,
-	queue workqueue.RateLimitingInterface,
+	queue workqueue.Interface,
 	expected reflect.Type,
 	event event,
 	obj interface{},
@@ -288,8 +289,10 @@ func (c *Controller) Run(ctx context.Context) {
 	}()
 
 	go func() {
-		c.log.Info("collecting initial cluster snapshot")
-		time.Sleep(c.prepDuration)
+		if err := c.collectInitialSnapshot(ctx); err != nil {
+			c.log.Errorf("error while collecting initial snapshot: %v", err)
+		}
+
 		c.log.Infof("sending cluster deltas every %s", c.interval)
 		wait.Until(func() {
 			c.send(ctx)
@@ -301,26 +304,71 @@ func (c *Controller) Run(ctx context.Context) {
 		c.queue.ShutDown()
 	}()
 
-	c.pollQueueUntilDone()
+	c.pollQueueUntilShutdown()
+}
+
+// collectInitialSnapshot is used to add a time buffer to collect the initial snapshot which is larger than periodic
+// delta because it contains a significant portion of the Kubernetes state. The function has multiple exit points:
+// 	1. Exits when the workqueue.Interface reports queue length of 0.
+//	2. The deadline of prepDuration has expired.
+func (c *Controller) collectInitialSnapshot(ctx context.Context) error {
+	c.log.Info("collecting initial cluster snapshot")
+	start := time.Now().UTC()
+	deadline := start.Add(c.prepDuration)
+
+	cond := func() (done bool, err error) {
+		defer func() {
+			if !done {
+				return
+			}
+			c.log.Infof("done waiting for initial cluster snapshot collection after %v", time.Now().UTC().Sub(start))
+		}()
+
+		queueLen := c.queue.Len()
+		log := c.log.WithField("queue_length", queueLen)
+		log.Debug("waiting until initial queue empty")
+
+		if queueLen == 0 {
+			log.Debug("initial workqueue is empty")
+			return true, nil
+		}
+
+		if time.Now().UTC().After(deadline) {
+			log.Debug("initial cluster snapshot collection deadline reached")
+			return true, nil
+		}
+
+		return false, nil
+	}
+
+	if err := wait.PollImmediateUntil(time.Second, cond, ctx.Done()); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, wait.ErrWaitTimeout) {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
-func (c *Controller) pollQueueUntilDone() {
+func (c *Controller) pollQueueUntilShutdown() {
 	for {
-		i, done := c.queue.Get()
-		if done {
+		i, shutdown := c.queue.Get()
+		if shutdown {
 			return
 		}
+		c.processItem(i)
+	}
+}
 
-		di, ok := i.(*item)
-		if !ok {
-			c.log.Errorf("expected queue item to be of type %T but got %T", &item{}, i)
-			continue
-		}
+func (c *Controller) processItem(i interface{}) {
+	defer c.queue.Done(i)
 
-		c.mu.Lock()
-		c.delta.add(di)
-		c.mu.Unlock()
+	di, ok := i.(*item)
+	if !ok {
+		c.log.Errorf("expected queue item to be of type %T but got %T", &item{}, i)
+		return
 	}
+
+	c.mu.Lock()
+	c.delta.add(di)
+	c.mu.Unlock()
 }
 
 func (c *Controller) send(ctx context.Context) {