diff --git a/utils/stale.py b/utils/stale.py
index c01b6d5682e9..20cb6cabeb91 100644
--- a/utils/stale.py
+++ b/utils/stale.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 
 
 LABELS_TO_EXEMPT = [
+    "close-to-merge",
     "good first issue",
     "good second issue",
     "good difficult issue",