diff --git a/src/compiler/nir/nir_lower_var_copies.c b/src/compiler/nir/nir_lower_var_copies.c
index 8a748982431..c7a3a67a41a 100644
--- a/src/compiler/nir/nir_lower_var_copies.c
+++ b/src/compiler/nir/nir_lower_var_copies.c
@@ -164,6 +164,8 @@ nir_lower_var_copies(nir_shader *shader)
 {
    bool progress = false;
 
+   shader->info.var_copies_lowered = true;
+
    nir_foreach_function(function, shader) {
       if (function->impl)
          progress |= lower_var_copies_impl(function->impl);
diff --git a/src/compiler/nir/nir_validate.c b/src/compiler/nir/nir_validate.c
index 4ff72977053..5e778109a73 100644
--- a/src/compiler/nir/nir_validate.c
+++ b/src/compiler/nir/nir_validate.c
@@ -643,6 +643,12 @@ validate_intrinsic_instr(nir_intrinsic_instr *instr, validate_state *state)
       validate_assert(state, glsl_get_bare_type(dst->type) ==
                              glsl_get_bare_type(src->type));
       validate_assert(state, !nir_deref_mode_may_be(dst, nir_var_read_only_modes));
+      /* FIXME: now that we track if the var copies were lowered, it would be
+       * good to validate here that no new copy derefs were added. Right now
+       * we can't as there are some specific cases where copies are added even
+       * after the lowering. One example is the Intel compiler, that calls
+       * nir_lower_io_to_temporaries when linking some shader stages.
+       */
       break;
    }
 
diff --git a/src/compiler/shader_info.h b/src/compiler/shader_info.h
index 806f4bdc2d1..fd673d135d5 100644
--- a/src/compiler/shader_info.h
+++ b/src/compiler/shader_info.h
@@ -297,6 +297,11 @@ typedef struct shader_info {
     */
    bool io_lowered:1;
 
+   /** Has nir_lower_var_copies called. To avoid calling any
+    * lowering/optimization that would introduce any copy_deref later.
+    */
+   bool var_copies_lowered:1;
+
    /* Whether the shader writes memory, including transform feedback. */
    bool writes_memory:1;