diff --git a/ods_ci/tests/Resources/Page/ModelRegistry/ModelRegistry.resource b/ods_ci/tests/Resources/Page/ModelRegistry/ModelRegistry.resource
index f6c99fe21..47f2592ee 100644
--- a/ods_ci/tests/Resources/Page/ModelRegistry/ModelRegistry.resource
+++ b/ods_ci/tests/Resources/Page/ModelRegistry/ModelRegistry.resource
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ Prepare Model Registry Test Setup
     Get Cluster Domain And Token
     Run Update Notebook Script
     Generate ModelRegistry Certificates
-    Apply Db Config Samples    namespace=${NAMESPACE_MODEL_REGISTRY}    samples=${MODEL_REGISTRY_DB_SAMPLES}
     Create Model Registry Secrets
+    Apply Db Config Samples    namespace=${NAMESPACE_MODEL_REGISTRY}    samples=${MODEL_REGISTRY_DB_SAMPLES}
     Fetch CA Certificate If RHODS Is Self-Managed
 
 Teardown Model Registry Test Setup
@@ -296,12 +296,13 @@ Open Model Registry Dashboard Page
     Maybe Wait For Dashboard Loading Spinner Page
     ${loaded}=    Run Keyword And Return Status
     ...    SeleniumLibrary.Page Should Not Contain    Request access to model registries
-    WHILE    ${loaded}!=${TRUE}    limit=5
+    WHILE    ${loaded}!=${TRUE}    limit=12    # Retries for 2 minutes - wait for user group to reconcile
         SeleniumLibrary.Reload Page
         SeleniumLibrary.Wait Until Page Contains    Model Registry
         SeleniumLibrary.Wait Until Page Contains    Select a model registry to view and manage your registered models.
         ${loaded}=    Run Keyword And Return Status
         ...    SeleniumLibrary.Page Should Not Contain    Request access to model registries
+        Sleep    10s
     END
     Maybe Wait For Dashboard Loading Spinner Page
 
@@ -383,6 +384,7 @@ Model Registry Post Upgrade Scenario
     Should Be Equal As Strings    ${operator_grpc}    ${instance_grpc}
     Launch Dashboard    ${TEST_USER.USERNAME}    ${TEST_USER.PASSWORD}    ${TEST_USER.AUTH_TYPE}
     ...    ${ODH_DASHBOARD_URL}    ${BROWSER.NAME}    ${BROWSER.OPTIONS}
+    Add User To Model Registry Default Group    ${TEST_USER.USERNAME}
     Open Model Registry Dashboard Page
     SeleniumLibrary.Page Should Contain Element
     ...    xpath:${MR_TABLE_XPATH}/tbody/tr/td[@data-label="Model name"]//a[.="${MR_REGISTERED_MODEL_NAME}"]
@@ -446,4 +448,14 @@ Get Model Registry Instance ${type} Image
     ${rc}    ${img}=    Run And Return RC And Output
     ...    oc get pod -l app=${instance_name} -n ${ns} -o yaml | yq '.items[].spec.containers[] | select(.name=="${type}-container").image'
     Should Be Equal As Integers    ${rc}    0
-    RETURN    ${img}
\ No newline at end of file
+    RETURN    ${img}
+
+Add User To Model Registry Default Group
+    [Documentation]    Dashboard creates a default user group to give read/write permissions to a MR instance. We need
+    ...    to add our test user to this group in order to be able to interact with it.
+    [Arguments]    ${user}    ${model_registry_name}=modelregistry-sample
+    ${rc}=    Run And Return Rc    oc get group ${model_registry_name}-users
+    Should Be Equal As Integers    ${rc}    0
+    ${rc}    ${out}=    Run And Return Rc And Output    oc adm groups add-users ${model_registry_name}-users ${user}
+    Should Be Equal As Integers    ${rc}    0
+    Should Be Equal As Strings    ${out}    group.user.openshift.io/${model_registry_name}-users added: "${user}"
diff --git a/ods_ci/tests/Tests/1300__model_registry/1301_model_registry_model_serving.robot b/ods_ci/tests/Tests/1300__model_registry/1301_model_registry_model_serving.robot
index f19388c10..937847e30 100644
--- a/ods_ci/tests/Tests/1300__model_registry/1301_model_registry_model_serving.robot
+++ b/ods_ci/tests/Tests/1300__model_registry/1301_model_registry_model_serving.robot
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ Verify Model Registry Integration With Secured-DB
     IF  ${self_managed}    Upload Certificate To Jupyter Notebook    openshift_ca.crt
     Jupyter Notebook Can Query Model Registry     ${JUPYTER_NOTEBOOK}
     SeleniumLibrary.Switch Window    ${handle}
+    Add User To Model Registry Default Group    ${TEST_USER.USERNAME}
     Open Model Registry Dashboard Page
     SeleniumLibrary.Page Should Contain Element    xpath:${MR_TABLE_XPATH}/tbody/tr/td[@data-label="Model name"]//a[.="${MR_REGISTERED_MODEL_NAME}"]
     SeleniumLibrary.Page Should Contain Element    xpath:${MR_TABLE_XPATH}/tbody/tr/td[@data-label="Owner"]//p[.="${MR_REGISTERED_MODEL_AUTHOR}"]
diff --git a/ods_ci/tests/Tests/1300__model_registry/1302_model_registry_smoke.robot b/ods_ci/tests/Tests/1300__model_registry/1302_model_registry_smoke.robot
index a14514f5f..132136d10 100644
--- a/ods_ci/tests/Tests/1300__model_registry/1302_model_registry_smoke.robot
+++ b/ods_ci/tests/Tests/1300__model_registry/1302_model_registry_smoke.robot
@@ -38,17 +38,20 @@ Deploy Model Registry
     ...    model-registry-operator-controller-manager
     ...    control-plane=model-registry-operator
     Component Should Be Enabled    modelregistry
+    Sleep    60s    reason=Wait for webhook endpoint
     Apply Db Config Samples    namespace=${NAMESPACE_MODEL_REGISTRY}    samples=${MODEL_REGISTRY_DB_SAMPLES}
     Wait Until Keyword Succeeds    10 s    2 s    Verify Model Registry Can Accept Requests
 
 Registering A Model In The Registry
     [Documentation]    Registers a model in the model registry
     [Tags]    Smoke    MR1302    ModelRegistry
+    Depends On Test    Deploy Model Registry
     Register A Model    ${URL}
 
 Verify Model Registry
     [Documentation]    Verify the registered model.
     [Tags]    Smoke    MR1302    ModelRegistry
+    Depends On Test    Registering A Model In The Registry
     Log    Attempting to verify Model Registry
     Wait Until Keyword Succeeds    10 s    2 s    Run Curl Command And Verify Response