diff --git a/neutron/plugins/ml2/drivers/macvtap/mech_driver/mech_macvtap.py b/neutron/plugins/ml2/drivers/macvtap/mech_driver/mech_macvtap.py
index 0d54090e5fb..f578e8bf9e1 100644
--- a/neutron/plugins/ml2/drivers/macvtap/mech_driver/mech_macvtap.py
+++ b/neutron/plugins/ml2/drivers/macvtap/mech_driver/mech_macvtap.py
@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ class MacvtapMechanismDriver(mech_agent.SimpleAgentMechanismDriverBase):
         # The only safe way to detect a migration is to look into the binding
         # profiles 'migrating_to' attribute, which is set by Nova since patch
         # https://review.openstack.org/#/c/275073/.
+        if not context.original:
+            # new port
+            return False
         port_profile = context.original.get(portbindings.PROFILE)
         if port_profile and port_profile.get('migrating_to', None):
             LOG.debug("Live migration with profile %s detected.", port_profile)
diff --git a/neutron/tests/unit/plugins/ml2/_test_mech_agent.py b/neutron/tests/unit/plugins/ml2/_test_mech_agent.py
index 3e4efdc49bd..addfb67f950 100644
--- a/neutron/tests/unit/plugins/ml2/_test_mech_agent.py
+++ b/neutron/tests/unit/plugins/ml2/_test_mech_agent.py
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class FakePortContext(api.PortContext):
 
     @property
     def original(self):
-        return self._original or {}
+        return self._original
 
     @property
     def status(self):
diff --git a/neutron/tests/unit/plugins/ml2/drivers/macvtap/mech_driver/test_mech_macvtap.py b/neutron/tests/unit/plugins/ml2/drivers/macvtap/mech_driver/test_mech_macvtap.py
index 5d145a1b9d1..0c5c30cddfc 100644
--- a/neutron/tests/unit/plugins/ml2/drivers/macvtap/mech_driver/test_mech_macvtap.py
+++ b/neutron/tests/unit/plugins/ml2/drivers/macvtap/mech_driver/test_mech_macvtap.py
@@ -71,6 +71,9 @@ class MacvtapMechanismMigrationTestCase(object):
     def test__is_live_migration_false(self):
         self._test__is_live_migration(False, {})
 
+    def test__is_live_migration_false_None_original(self):
+        self._test__is_live_migration(False, None)
+
     def _test__is_live_migration(self, expected, original):
         context = base.FakePortContext(self.AGENT_TYPE,
                                        self.AGENTS,