diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/cloud_provider.go b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/cloud_provider.go
index c53937da2e78..41ec7e914903 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/cloud_provider.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/cloud_provider.go
@@ -256,6 +256,16 @@ func (c InstanceErrorClass) String() string {
 	}
 }
 
+const (
+	// FakeNodeReasonAnnotation is an annotation added to the fake placeholder nodes CA has created
+	// Note that this don't map to real nodes in k8s and are merely used for error handling
+	FakeNodeReasonAnnotation = "k8s.io/cluster-autoscaler/fake-node-reason"
+	// FakeNodeUnregistered represents a node that is identified by CA as unregistered
+	FakeNodeUnregistered = "unregistered"
+	// FakeNodeCreateError represents a node that is identified by CA as a created node with errors
+	FakeNodeCreateError = "create-error"
+)
+
 // PricingModel contains information about the node price and how it changes in time.
 type PricingModel interface {
 	// NodePrice returns a price of running the given node for a given period of time.
diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/clusterstate.go b/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/clusterstate.go
index e66d49636808..7eaa2ce330a4 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/clusterstate.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/clusterstate.go
@@ -949,7 +949,7 @@ func getNotRegisteredNodes(allNodes []*apiv1.Node, cloudProviderNodeInstances ma
 		for _, instance := range instances {
 			if !registered.Has(instance.Id) {
 				notRegistered = append(notRegistered, UnregisteredNode{
-					Node:              fakeNode(instance),
+					Node:              fakeNode(instance, cloudprovider.FakeNodeUnregistered),
 					UnregisteredSince: time,
 				})
 			}
@@ -1096,7 +1096,7 @@ func (csr *ClusterStateRegistry) GetCreatedNodesWithErrors() []*apiv1.Node {
 		_, _, instancesByErrorCode := csr.buildInstanceToErrorCodeMappings(nodeGroupInstances)
 		for _, instances := range instancesByErrorCode {
 			for _, instance := range instances {
-				nodesWithCreateErrors = append(nodesWithCreateErrors, fakeNode(instance))
+				nodesWithCreateErrors = append(nodesWithCreateErrors, fakeNode(instance, cloudprovider.FakeNodeCreateError))
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -1113,10 +1113,13 @@ func (csr *ClusterStateRegistry) InvalidateNodeInstancesCacheEntry(nodeGroup clo
 	csr.cloudProviderNodeInstancesCache.InvalidateCacheEntry(nodeGroup)
 }
 
-func fakeNode(instance cloudprovider.Instance) *apiv1.Node {
+func fakeNode(instance cloudprovider.Instance, reason string) *apiv1.Node {
 	return &apiv1.Node{
 		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 			Name: instance.Id,
+			Annotations: map[string]string{
+				cloudprovider.FakeNodeReasonAnnotation: reason,
+			},
 		},
 		Spec: apiv1.NodeSpec{
 			ProviderID: instance.Id,