diff --git a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c
index 8243f280a2ec..c4330d40c638 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_port.c
@@ -997,6 +997,9 @@ static void autoconfig_16550a(struct uart_8250_port *up)
 	up->port.type = PORT_16550A;
 	up->capabilities |= UART_CAP_FIFO;
 
+	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_16550A_VARIANTS))
+		return;
+
 	/*
 	 * Check for presence of the EFR when DLAB is set.
 	 * Only ST16C650V1 UARTs pass this test.
diff --git a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/Kconfig b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/Kconfig
index fab3d4f20667..ffd167e886ae 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/Kconfig
@@ -60,6 +60,16 @@ config SERIAL_8250_PNP
 	  This builds standard PNP serial support. You may be able to
 	  disable this feature if you only need legacy serial support.
 
+config SERIAL_8250_16550A_VARIANTS
+	bool "Support for variants of the 16550A serial port"
+	depends on SERIAL_8250
+	help
+	  The 8250 driver can probe for many variants of the venerable 16550A
+	  serial port. Doing so takes additional time at boot.
+
+	  On modern systems, especially those using serial only for a simple
+	  console, you can say N here.
+
 config SERIAL_8250_FINTEK
 	bool "Support for Fintek F81216A LPC to 4 UART RS485 API"
 	depends on SERIAL_8250