diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 0af3f2ba92..a0eaf084d6 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -147,6 +147,8 @@ gst_base_dep = dependency('gstreamer-base-1.0', version : gst_req,
   fallback : ['gstreamer', 'gst_base_dep'])
 gst_net_dep = dependency('gstreamer-net-1.0', version : gst_req,
   fallback : ['gstreamer', 'gst_net_dep'])
+gst_check_dep = dependency('gstreamer-check-1.0', version : gst_req,
+  fallback : ['gstreamer', 'gst_check_dep'])
 gst_controller_dep = dependency('gstreamer-controller-1.0', version : gst_req,
   fallback : ['gstreamer', 'gst_controller_dep'])
 
diff --git a/tests/check/meson.build b/tests/check/meson.build
index 62ab7b4385..e9c16278bd 100644
--- a/tests/check/meson.build
+++ b/tests/check/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-gst_check_dep = dependency('gstreamer-check-1.0', version : gst_req,
-  fallback : ['gstreamer', 'gst_check_dep'])
-
 have_registry = true # FIXME not get_option('disable_registry')
 
 # name, condition when to skip the test and extra dependencies