diff --git a/pkg/cfn/builder/managed_nodegroup.go b/pkg/cfn/builder/managed_nodegroup.go
index 87a711a8a5..74c97332c7 100644
--- a/pkg/cfn/builder/managed_nodegroup.go
+++ b/pkg/cfn/builder/managed_nodegroup.go
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ func (m *ManagedNodeGroupResourceSet) AddAllResources(ctx context.Context) error
 		}
 		nodeRole = gfnt.MakeFnGetAttString(cfnIAMInstanceRoleName, "Arn")
 	} else {
-		nodeRole = gfnt.NewString(NormalizeARN(m.nodeGroup.IAM.InstanceRoleARN))
+		nodeRole = gfnt.NewString(m.nodeGroup.IAM.InstanceRoleARN)
 	}
 
 	subnets, err := AssignSubnets(ctx, m.nodeGroup, m.clusterConfig, m.ec2API)
diff --git a/pkg/cfn/builder/managed_nodegroup_test.go b/pkg/cfn/builder/managed_nodegroup_test.go
index 66f1b2733d..c9f6170416 100644
--- a/pkg/cfn/builder/managed_nodegroup_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cfn/builder/managed_nodegroup_test.go
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ func TestManagedNodeRole(t *testing.T) {
 			expectedNodeRoleARN: gfnt.NewString("arn::DUMMY::DUMMYROLE"), // using the provided role
 		},
 		{
-			description: "InstanceRoleARN is provided and normalized",
+			description: "InstanceRoleARN is provided with path and preserved",
 			nodeGroup: &api.ManagedNodeGroup{
 				NodeGroupBase: &api.NodeGroupBase{
 					IAM: &api.NodeGroupIAM{
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ func TestManagedNodeRole(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 			expectedNewRole:     false,
-			expectedNodeRoleARN: gfnt.NewString("arn:aws:iam::1234567890:role/custom-eks-role"),
+			expectedNodeRoleARN: gfnt.NewString("arn:aws:iam::1234567890:role/foo/bar/baz/custom-eks-role"),
 		},
 	}