diff --git a/runners/samza/build.gradle b/runners/samza/build.gradle
index 012b53721bbf..acacf9f8cd60 100644
--- a/runners/samza/build.gradle
+++ b/runners/samza/build.gradle
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ task validatesRunner(type: Test) {
     excludeCategories 'org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime'
     excludeCategories 'org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesMetricsPusher'
     excludeCategories 'org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesParDoLifecycle'
+    excludeCategories 'org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesProcessingTimeTimers'
     excludeCategories 'org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesStrictTimerOrdering'
     excludeCategories 'org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesOnWindowExpiration'
     excludeCategories 'org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesOrderedListState'
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/UsesProcessingTimeTimers.java b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/UsesProcessingTimeTimers.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..62177c5c83ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/testing/UsesProcessingTimeTimers.java
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.beam.sdk.testing;
+
+import org.apache.beam.sdk.annotations.Internal;
+import org.apache.beam.sdk.transforms.ParDo;
+
+/** Category tag for validation tests which utilize timers in {@link ParDo}. */
+@Internal
+public interface UsesProcessingTimeTimers {}
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/GroupByKeyTest.java b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/GroupByKeyTest.java
index 0a5a74b49c65..39a0944a13eb 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/GroupByKeyTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/GroupByKeyTest.java
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.PAssert;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.TestPipeline;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.TestStream;
+import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesProcessingTimeTimers;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesTimersInParDo;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesUnboundedPCollections;
@@ -242,7 +243,12 @@ public void testAfterProcessingTimeContinuationTriggerEarly() throws Exception {
      * suite.
      */
     @Test
-    @Category({ValidatesRunner.class, UsesTimersInParDo.class, UsesUnboundedPCollections.class})
+    @Category({
+      ValidatesRunner.class,
+      UsesTimersInParDo.class,
+      UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class,
+      UsesUnboundedPCollections.class
+    })
     public void testAfterProcessingTimeContinuationTriggerUsingState() throws Exception {
       final long triggerMillis = 1;
       final long waitMillis = 500;
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/ParDoTest.java b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/ParDoTest.java
index 2028ecaa1fd4..fc8012727ad4 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/ParDoTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/ParDoTest.java
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesOnWindowExpiration;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesOrderedListState;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesParDoLifecycle;
+import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesProcessingTimeTimers;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesRequiresTimeSortedInput;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesSetState;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.testing.UsesSideInputs;
@@ -2130,7 +2131,7 @@ public Duration getAllowedTimestampSkew() {
     }
 
     @Test
-    @Category({ValidatesRunner.class, UsesTimersInParDo.class})
+    @Category({ValidatesRunner.class, UsesTimersInParDo.class, UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class})
     public void testProcessElementSkew() {
       TimestampedValues<KV<String, Duration>> input =
           Create.timestamped(Arrays.asList(KV.of("2", Duration.millis(1L))), Arrays.asList(1L));
@@ -4356,7 +4357,7 @@ public void onTimer() {}
     }
 
     @Test
-    @Category({ValidatesRunner.class, UsesTimersInParDo.class})
+    @Category({ValidatesRunner.class, UsesTimersInParDo.class, UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class})
     public void testOutOfBoundsProcessingTimeTimerHold() throws Exception {
       final String timerId = "foo";
 
@@ -4402,6 +4403,7 @@ public void onTimer() {}
     @Category({
       ValidatesRunner.class,
       UsesTimersInParDo.class,
+      UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class,
       UsesTestStream.class,
       UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime.class
     })
@@ -4572,6 +4574,7 @@ public void onTimer(@Timestamp Instant timestamp, OutputReceiver<KV<Long, Instan
     @Category({
       ValidatesRunner.class,
       UsesTimersInParDo.class,
+      UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class,
       UsesTestStream.class,
       UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime.class
     })
@@ -5000,6 +5003,7 @@ public void onTimer(
       ValidatesRunner.class,
       UsesStatefulParDo.class,
       UsesTimersInParDo.class,
+      UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class,
       UsesTestStream.class,
       UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime.class,
       UsesTestStreamWithOutputTimestamp.class
@@ -5269,6 +5273,7 @@ public void onTimer2(
     @Category({
       NeedsRunner.class,
       UsesTimersInParDo.class,
+      UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class,
       UsesTestStream.class,
       UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime.class
     })
@@ -5349,6 +5354,7 @@ public void onTimer(OutputReceiver<Long> r) {
     @Category({
       NeedsRunner.class,
       UsesTimersInParDo.class,
+      UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class,
       UsesTestStream.class,
       UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime.class
     })
@@ -5426,6 +5432,7 @@ public void onTimer(OutputReceiver<Long> r) {
     @Category({
       NeedsRunner.class,
       UsesTimersInParDo.class,
+      UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class,
       UsesTestStream.class,
       UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime.class
     })
@@ -5539,6 +5546,7 @@ public void clearTimer(OutputReceiver<Long> r) {
     @Category({
       NeedsRunner.class,
       UsesTimersInParDo.class,
+      UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class,
       UsesTestStream.class,
       UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime.class
     })
@@ -6174,6 +6182,7 @@ public void onTimer2(@Timestamp Instant ts, OutputReceiver<String> r) {
     @Category({
       ValidatesRunner.class,
       UsesTimersInParDo.class,
+      UsesProcessingTimeTimers.class,
       UsesTestStream.class,
       UsesTestStreamWithProcessingTime.class,
       UsesTimerMap.class