diff --git a/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/java/fish/payara/micro/cmd/options/RUNTIME_OPTION.java b/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/java/fish/payara/micro/cmd/options/RUNTIME_OPTION.java
index b24cb1191ff..f789f134eb6 100644
--- a/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/java/fish/payara/micro/cmd/options/RUNTIME_OPTION.java
+++ b/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/java/fish/payara/micro/cmd/options/RUNTIME_OPTION.java
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ public enum RUNTIME_OPTION {
     enablesni(false),
     hzpublicaddress(true),
     shutdowngrace(true, new IntegerValidator(1, Integer.MAX_VALUE)),
+    hzinitialjoinwait(true, new IntegerValidator(0,100000)),
     contextroot(true);
 
     private RUNTIME_OPTION(boolean hasValue) {
diff --git a/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/java/fish/payara/micro/impl/PayaraMicroImpl.java b/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/java/fish/payara/micro/impl/PayaraMicroImpl.java
index 1410c1fa223..2e5442783a7 100644
--- a/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/java/fish/payara/micro/impl/PayaraMicroImpl.java
+++ b/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/java/fish/payara/micro/impl/PayaraMicroImpl.java
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ public class PayaraMicroImpl implements PayaraMicroBoot {
     private boolean showServletMappings;
     private boolean sniEnabled = false;
     private String publicAddress = "";
+    private int initialJoinWait = 1;
 
     /**
      * Runs a Payara Micro server used via java -jar payara-micro.jar
@@ -1357,6 +1358,9 @@ else if (requestTracing[0].matches("\\D+")) {
                     case shutdowngrace:
                         System.setProperty(GlassFishImpl.PAYARA_SHUTDOWNGRACE_PROPERTY, value);
                         break;
+                    case hzinitialjoinwait:
+                        initialJoinWait = Integer.parseInt(value);
+                        break;
                     case contextroot:
                         if (contextRoot != null) {
                             LOGGER.warning("Multiple --contextroot arguments only the last one will apply");
@@ -1838,8 +1842,14 @@ private void configurePhoneHome() {
         }
     }
 
+    
     private void configureHazelcast() {
         // check hazelcast cluster overrides
+        // set join wait based on the command flag
+        if (System.getProperty("hazelcast.wait.seconds.before.join") == null) {
+            System.setProperty("hazelcast.wait.seconds.before.join", Integer.toString(initialJoinWait));
+        }
+        
         if (noCluster) {
             preBootCommands.add(new BootCommand("set", "configs.config.server-config.hazelcast-config-specific-configuration.enabled=false"));
             preBootCommands.add(new BootCommand("set", "configs.config.server-config.ejb-container.ejb-timer-service.ejb-timer-service=Dummy"));
@@ -2118,6 +2128,7 @@ private void setArgumentsFromSystemProperties() {
 
         autoBindHttp = getBooleanProperty("payaramicro.autoBindHttp");
         autoBindRange = getIntegerProperty("payaramicro.autoBindRange", 5);
+        initialJoinWait = getIntegerProperty("payaramicro.initialJoinWait",1);
         autoBindSsl = getBooleanProperty("payaramicro.autoBindSsl");
         generateLogo = getBooleanProperty("payaramicro.logo");
         logToFile = getBooleanProperty("payaramicro.logToFile");
@@ -2314,6 +2325,7 @@ private void packageUberJar() {
         props.setProperty("payaramicro.disablePhoneHome", Boolean.toString(disablePhoneHome));
         props.setProperty("payaramicro.showServletMappings", Boolean.toString(showServletMappings));
         props.setProperty("payaramicro.sniEnabled", Boolean.toString(sniEnabled));
+        props.setProperty("payaramicro.initialJoinWait", Integer.toString(initialJoinWait));
         
         if (publicAddress != null) {
             props.setProperty("payaramicro.publicAddress", publicAddress);
diff --git a/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/resources/commandoptions.properties b/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/resources/commandoptions.properties
index 7146b5f939e..803edc8df7d 100644
--- a/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/resources/commandoptions.properties
+++ b/appserver/extras/payara-micro/payara-micro-core/src/main/resources/commandoptions.properties
@@ -95,4 +95,5 @@ interfaces=Specifies the Interfaces that the data grid discovery mode should use
 secretsdir=Directory to read secrets files using the Microprofile config api.
 showservletmappings=Shows the servlet mappings in the deployment summary message.
 hzpublicaddress=Sets the Public Address of the Data Grid for use where NAT translation is used (including in Docker)
+hzinitialjoinwait=Set the join wait system property hazelcast.wait.seconds.before.join which is the wait time before joining the cluster
 contextroot=Specifies the context root of the first deployment without a context root specified