diff --git a/tests/vm/basevm.py b/tests/vm/basevm.py
index c99725b8c0..5ca445e29a 100644
--- a/tests/vm/basevm.py
+++ b/tests/vm/basevm.py
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ class BaseVM(object):
     poweroff = "poweroff"
     # enable IPv6 networking
     ipv6 = True
+    # Scale up some timeouts under TCG.
+    # 4 is arbitrary, but greater than 2,
+    # since we found we need to wait more than twice as long.
+    tcg_ssh_timeout_multiplier = 4
     def __init__(self, debug=False, vcpus=None):
         self._guest = None
         self._tmpdir = os.path.realpath(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="vm-test-",
@@ -309,6 +313,9 @@ class BaseVM(object):
         sys.stderr.write("### %s ...\n" % text)
 
     def wait_ssh(self, seconds=300):
+        # Allow more time for VM to boot under TCG.
+        if not kvm_available(self.arch):
+            seconds *= self.tcg_ssh_timeout_multiplier
         starttime = datetime.datetime.now()
         endtime = starttime + datetime.timedelta(seconds=seconds)
         guest_up = False