diff --git a/subsys/net/lib/mqtt/mqtt.c b/subsys/net/lib/mqtt/mqtt.c
index 8d8e1d1a576..2fa9b850189 100644
--- a/subsys/net/lib/mqtt/mqtt.c
+++ b/subsys/net/lib/mqtt/mqtt.c
@@ -837,11 +837,6 @@ int mqtt_init(struct mqtt_ctx *ctx, enum mqtt_app app_type)
 	ctx->clean_session = 1;
 	ctx->connected = 0;
 
-	/* Install the receiver callback, timeout is set to K_NO_WAIT.
-	 * In this case, no return code is evaluated.
-	 */
-	(void)net_context_recv(ctx->net_ctx, mqtt_recv, K_NO_WAIT, ctx);
-
 	ctx->app_type = app_type;
 
 	switch (ctx->app_type) {
@@ -855,5 +850,10 @@ int mqtt_init(struct mqtt_ctx *ctx, enum mqtt_app app_type)
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
+	/* Install the receiver callback, timeout is set to K_NO_WAIT.
+	 * In this case, no return code is evaluated.
+	 */
+	(void)net_context_recv(ctx->net_ctx, mqtt_recv, K_NO_WAIT, ctx);
+
 	return 0;
 }