diff --git a/hmp.c b/hmp.c
index 9f9bcf9d83..a464ca9007 100644
--- a/hmp.c
+++ b/hmp.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include "block/qapi.h"
 #include "qemu-io.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
+#include "qemu/error-report.h"
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_SPICE
 #include <spice/enums.h>
@@ -168,8 +169,15 @@ void hmp_info_migrate(Monitor *mon, const QDict *qdict)
     }
 
     if (info->has_status) {
-        monitor_printf(mon, "Migration status: %s\n",
+        monitor_printf(mon, "Migration status: %s",
                        MigrationStatus_lookup[info->status]);
+        if (info->status == MIGRATION_STATUS_FAILED &&
+            info->has_error_desc) {
+            monitor_printf(mon, " (%s)\n", info->error_desc);
+        } else {
+            monitor_printf(mon, "\n");
+        }
+
         monitor_printf(mon, "total time: %" PRIu64 " milliseconds\n",
                        info->total_time);
         if (info->has_expected_downtime) {
@@ -1533,6 +1541,9 @@ static void hmp_migrate_status_cb(void *opaque)
         if (status->is_block_migration) {
             monitor_printf(status->mon, "\n");
         }
+        if (info->has_error_desc) {
+            error_report("%s", info->error_desc);
+        }
         monitor_resume(status->mon);
         timer_del(status->timer);
         g_free(status);
diff --git a/include/migration/migration.h b/include/migration/migration.h
index 87ad577ea6..d24c6ef418 100644
--- a/include/migration/migration.h
+++ b/include/migration/migration.h
@@ -171,6 +171,9 @@ struct MigrationState
     QSIMPLEQ_HEAD(src_page_requests, MigrationSrcPageRequest) src_page_requests;
     /* The RAMBlock used in the last src_page_request */
     RAMBlock *last_req_rb;
+
+    /* The last error that occurred */
+    Error *error;
 };
 
 void migrate_set_state(int *state, int old_state, int new_state);
@@ -207,7 +210,7 @@ void rdma_start_outgoing_migration(void *opaque, const char *host_port, Error **
 
 void rdma_start_incoming_migration(const char *host_port, Error **errp);
 
-void migrate_fd_error(MigrationState *s);
+void migrate_fd_error(MigrationState *s, const Error *error);
 
 void migrate_fd_connect(MigrationState *s);
 
diff --git a/include/qapi/error.h b/include/qapi/error.h
index 11be2327c0..0576659603 100644
--- a/include/qapi/error.h
+++ b/include/qapi/error.h
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ typedef enum ErrorClass {
 /*
  * Get @err's human-readable error message.
  */
-const char *error_get_pretty(Error *err);
+const char *error_get_pretty(const Error *err);
 
 /*
  * Get @err's error class.
diff --git a/migration/migration.c b/migration/migration.c
index c960e1642d..1420ccc681 100644
--- a/migration/migration.c
+++ b/migration/migration.c
@@ -691,6 +691,10 @@ MigrationInfo *qmp_query_migrate(Error **errp)
         break;
     case MIGRATION_STATUS_FAILED:
         info->has_status = true;
+        if (s->error) {
+            info->has_error_desc = true;
+            info->error_desc = g_strdup(error_get_pretty(s->error));
+        }
         break;
     case MIGRATION_STATUS_CANCELLED:
         info->has_status = true;
@@ -863,12 +867,15 @@ static void migrate_fd_cleanup(void *opaque)
     notifier_list_notify(&migration_state_notifiers, s);
 }
 
-void migrate_fd_error(MigrationState *s)
+void migrate_fd_error(MigrationState *s, const Error *error)
 {
-    trace_migrate_fd_error();
+    trace_migrate_fd_error(error ? error_get_pretty(error) : "");
     assert(s->to_dst_file == NULL);
     migrate_set_state(&s->state, MIGRATION_STATUS_SETUP,
                       MIGRATION_STATUS_FAILED);
+    if (!s->error) {
+        s->error = error_copy(error);
+    }
     notifier_list_notify(&migration_state_notifiers, s);
 }
 
@@ -967,6 +974,8 @@ MigrationState *migrate_init(const MigrationParams *params)
     s->postcopy_after_devices = false;
     s->migration_thread_running = false;
     s->last_req_rb = NULL;
+    error_free(s->error);
+    s->error = NULL;
 
     migrate_set_state(&s->state, MIGRATION_STATUS_NONE, MIGRATION_STATUS_SETUP);
 
@@ -1076,7 +1085,7 @@ void qmp_migrate(const char *uri, bool has_blk, bool blk,
     }
 
     if (local_err) {
-        migrate_fd_error(s);
+        migrate_fd_error(s, local_err);
         error_propagate(errp, local_err);
         return;
     }
diff --git a/migration/rdma.c b/migration/rdma.c
index 0d067a1a51..f8578b919e 100644
--- a/migration/rdma.c
+++ b/migration/rdma.c
@@ -3489,16 +3489,14 @@ void rdma_start_outgoing_migration(void *opaque,
                             const char *host_port, Error **errp)
 {
     MigrationState *s = opaque;
-    Error *local_err = NULL, **temp = &local_err;
-    RDMAContext *rdma = qemu_rdma_data_init(host_port, &local_err);
+    RDMAContext *rdma = qemu_rdma_data_init(host_port, errp);
     int ret = 0;
 
     if (rdma == NULL) {
-        ERROR(temp, "Failed to initialize RDMA data structures! %d", ret);
         goto err;
     }
 
-    ret = qemu_rdma_source_init(rdma, &local_err,
+    ret = qemu_rdma_source_init(rdma, errp,
         s->enabled_capabilities[MIGRATION_CAPABILITY_RDMA_PIN_ALL]);
 
     if (ret) {
@@ -3506,7 +3504,7 @@ void rdma_start_outgoing_migration(void *opaque,
     }
 
     trace_rdma_start_outgoing_migration_after_rdma_source_init();
-    ret = qemu_rdma_connect(rdma, &local_err);
+    ret = qemu_rdma_connect(rdma, errp);
 
     if (ret) {
         goto err;
@@ -3518,7 +3516,5 @@ void rdma_start_outgoing_migration(void *opaque,
     migrate_fd_connect(s);
     return;
 err:
-    error_propagate(errp, local_err);
     g_free(rdma);
-    migrate_fd_error(s);
 }
diff --git a/migration/tcp.c b/migration/tcp.c
index e1fa7f8f18..d0e0db98b6 100644
--- a/migration/tcp.c
+++ b/migration/tcp.c
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ static void tcp_wait_for_connect(int fd, Error *err, void *opaque)
     if (fd < 0) {
         DPRINTF("migrate connect error: %s\n", error_get_pretty(err));
         s->to_dst_file = NULL;
-        migrate_fd_error(s);
+        migrate_fd_error(s, err);
     } else {
         DPRINTF("migrate connect success\n");
         s->to_dst_file = qemu_fopen_socket(fd, "wb");
diff --git a/migration/unix.c b/migration/unix.c
index d9aac36b9a..b3537fd1af 100644
--- a/migration/unix.c
+++ b/migration/unix.c
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ static void unix_wait_for_connect(int fd, Error *err, void *opaque)
     if (fd < 0) {
         DPRINTF("migrate connect error: %s\n", error_get_pretty(err));
         s->to_dst_file = NULL;
-        migrate_fd_error(s);
+        migrate_fd_error(s, err);
     } else {
         DPRINTF("migrate connect success\n");
         s->to_dst_file = qemu_fopen_socket(fd, "wb");
diff --git a/qapi-schema.json b/qapi-schema.json
index 9a322d1836..e8c035334c 100644
--- a/qapi-schema.json
+++ b/qapi-schema.json
@@ -484,6 +484,10 @@
 #        throttled during auto-converge. This is only present when auto-converge
 #        has started throttling guest cpus. (Since 2.7)
 #
+# @error-desc: #optional the human readable error description string, when
+#              @status is 'failed'. Clients should not attempt to parse the
+#              error strings. (Since 2.6)
+#
 # Since: 0.14.0
 ##
 { 'struct': 'MigrationInfo',
@@ -494,7 +498,8 @@
            '*expected-downtime': 'int',
            '*downtime': 'int',
            '*setup-time': 'int',
-           '*cpu-throttle-percentage': 'int'} }
+           '*cpu-throttle-percentage': 'int',
+           '*error-desc': 'str'} }
 
 ##
 # @query-migrate
diff --git a/trace-events b/trace-events
index b53c3541a3..1ef4a9a547 100644
--- a/trace-events
+++ b/trace-events
@@ -1481,7 +1481,7 @@ await_return_path_close_on_source_close(void) ""
 await_return_path_close_on_source_joining(void) ""
 migrate_set_state(int new_state) "new state %d"
 migrate_fd_cleanup(void) ""
-migrate_fd_error(void) ""
+migrate_fd_error(const char *error_desc) "error=%s"
 migrate_fd_cancel(void) ""
 migrate_handle_rp_req_pages(const char *rbname, size_t start, size_t len) "in %s at %zx len %zx"
 migrate_pending(uint64_t size, uint64_t max, uint64_t post, uint64_t nonpost) "pending size %" PRIu64 " max %" PRIu64 " (post=%" PRIu64 " nonpost=%" PRIu64 ")"
diff --git a/util/error.c b/util/error.c
index cae2511732..9c40b1f458 100644
--- a/util/error.c
+++ b/util/error.c
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ ErrorClass error_get_class(const Error *err)
     return err->err_class;
 }
 
-const char *error_get_pretty(Error *err)
+const char *error_get_pretty(const Error *err)
 {
     return err->msg;
 }