diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/9987-Shashank1306s b/changelogs/unreleased/9987-Shashank1306s
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4a975b5da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/9987-Shashank1306s
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix ResourceDeletionStatusTracker key mismatch so restore into a terminating namespace waits once per namespace instead of once per resource
diff --git a/pkg/util/kube/utils.go b/pkg/util/kube/utils.go
index d76dad4a3..c3d0b2046 100644
--- a/pkg/util/kube/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/util/kube/utils.go
@@ -103,7 +103,10 @@ func EnsureNamespaceExistsAndIsReady(namespace *corev1api.Namespace, client core
 			return true, err
 		}
 		if clusterNS != nil && (clusterNS.GetDeletionTimestamp() != nil || clusterNS.Status.Phase == corev1api.NamespaceTerminating) {
-			if resourceDeletionStatusTracker.Contains(clusterNS.Kind, clusterNS.Name, clusterNS.Name) {
+			// Use namespace.Kind (not clusterNS.Kind) so this key matches the one Add()
+			// writes below: client.Get() strips TypeMeta (Kind=""), but getNamespace()
+			// sets Kind="Namespace". Mismatched keys made Contains never match.
+			if resourceDeletionStatusTracker.Contains(namespace.Kind, namespace.Name, namespace.Name) {
 				namespaceAlreadyInDeletionTracker = true
 				return true, errors.Errorf("namespace %s is already present in the polling set, skipping execution", namespace.Name)
 			}
diff --git a/pkg/util/kube/utils_test.go b/pkg/util/kube/utils_test.go
index 23db12a41..cc53b31b5 100644
--- a/pkg/util/kube/utils_test.go
+++ b/pkg/util/kube/utils_test.go
@@ -154,6 +154,39 @@ func TestEnsureNamespaceExistsAndIsReady(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestEnsureNamespaceExistsAndIsReadyTerminatingTrackerKindMismatch verifies the
+// tracker skip-path fires when Add and Contains see different Kind values, as they
+// do in production: getNamespace() sets Kind="Namespace" but client.Get() strips it.
+func TestEnsureNamespaceExistsAndIsReadyTerminatingTrackerKindMismatch(t *testing.T) {
+	// Passed-in namespace mirrors getNamespace(): Kind is set.
+	namespace := &corev1api.Namespace{
+		TypeMeta:   metav1.TypeMeta{Kind: "Namespace", APIVersion: "v1"},
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "test"},
+	}
+
+	// clusterNS mirrors client.Get(): Kind stripped, phase Terminating.
+	clusterNS := &corev1api.Namespace{
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "test"},
+		Status:     corev1api.NamespaceStatus{Phase: corev1api.NamespaceTerminating},
+	}
+
+	nsClient := &velerotest.FakeNamespaceClient{}
+	defer nsClient.AssertExpectations(t)
+	nsClient.On("Get", "test", metav1.GetOptions{}).Return(clusterNS, nil)
+
+	// Seed the tracker as production Add() does.
+	tracker := NewResourceDeletionStatusTracker()
+	tracker.Add(namespace.Kind, namespace.Name, namespace.Name)
+
+	result, nsCreated, err := EnsureNamespaceExistsAndIsReady(namespace, nsClient, time.Millisecond, tracker)
+
+	assert.False(t, result)
+	assert.False(t, nsCreated)
+	// Skip-path must fire, not the full terminating-resource-timeout wait.
+	require.ErrorContains(t, err, "skipping polling for terminating namespace")
+	assert.NotContains(t, err.Error(), "timed out waiting for terminating namespace")
+}
+
 // TestGetVolumeDirectorySuccess tests that the GetVolumeDirectory function
 // returns a volume's name or a volume's name plus '/mount' when a PVC is present.
 func TestGetVolumeDirectorySuccess(t *testing.T) {