diff --git a/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go b/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go
index 5aa0a63e1..69b4c748c 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go
@@ -1506,7 +1506,9 @@ func (r *Migration) updateCopyProgress(vm *plan.VMStatus, step *plan.Step) (err
 			if !found {
 				continue
 			}
-			if dv.Status.Phase == cdi.PendingPopulation && r.Source.Provider.Type() == v1beta1.VSphere {
+			if dv.Status.Phase == cdi.PendingPopulation && r.Source.Provider.RequiresConversion() {
+				// in migrations that involve conversion, the conversion pod serves as the
+				// first consumer of the PVCs so we can treat PendingPopulation as Succeeded
 				dv.Status.Phase = cdi.Succeeded
 			}
 			conditions := dv.Conditions()