diff --git a/src/core/vector/qgsvectorlayerfeatureiterator.cpp b/src/core/vector/qgsvectorlayerfeatureiterator.cpp
index 611d990e487e..8092fee47d7c 100644
--- a/src/core/vector/qgsvectorlayerfeatureiterator.cpp
+++ b/src/core/vector/qgsvectorlayerfeatureiterator.cpp
@@ -1231,6 +1231,7 @@ void QgsVectorLayerFeatureIterator::FetchJoinInfo::addJoinedAttributesDirect( Qg
   request.setSubsetOfAttributes( joinedAttributeIndices );
   request.setFilterExpression( subsetString );
   request.setLimit( 1 );
+  request.setRequestMayBeNested( true );
   QgsFeatureIterator fi = joinSource->getFeatures( request );
 
   // get first feature