diff --git a/src/ansiblelint/__main__.py b/src/ansiblelint/__main__.py
index 6df19d2dad..019838f1cd 100755
--- a/src/ansiblelint/__main__.py
+++ b/src/ansiblelint/__main__.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
     log_entries,
     options,
 )
-from ansiblelint.constants import RC
+from ansiblelint.constants import RC, SKIP_SCHEMA_UPDATE
 from ansiblelint.loaders import load_ignore_txt
 from ansiblelint.runner import get_matches
 from ansiblelint.skip_utils import normalize_tag
@@ -305,7 +305,22 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
     _logger.debug("Options: %s", options)
     _logger.debug("CWD: %s", Path.cwd())
 
-    if not options.offline:
+    # checks if we have `ANSIBLE_LINT_SKIP_SCHEMA_UPDATE` set to bypass schema
+    # update. Also skip if in offline mode.
+    # env var set to skip schema refresh
+    skip_schema_update = (
+        bool(
+            int(
+                os.environ.get(
+                    SKIP_SCHEMA_UPDATE,
+                    "0",
+                ),
+            ),
+        )
+        or options.offline
+    )
+
+    if not skip_schema_update:
         # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
         from ansiblelint.schemas.__main__ import refresh_schemas
 
diff --git a/src/ansiblelint/constants.py b/src/ansiblelint/constants.py
index 4b146476a9..ad051ba47f 100644
--- a/src/ansiblelint/constants.py
+++ b/src/ansiblelint/constants.py
@@ -6,11 +6,13 @@
 DEFAULT_RULESDIR = Path(__file__).parent / "rules"
 CUSTOM_RULESDIR_ENVVAR = "ANSIBLE_LINT_CUSTOM_RULESDIR"
 RULE_DOC_URL = "https://ansible-lint.readthedocs.io/rules/"
+SKIP_SCHEMA_UPDATE = "ANSIBLE_LINT_SKIP_SCHEMA_UPDATE"
 
 ENV_VARS_HELP = {
     CUSTOM_RULESDIR_ENVVAR: "Used for adding another folder into the lookup path for new rules.",
     "ANSIBLE_LINT_IGNORE_FILE": "Define it to override the name of the default ignore file `.ansible-lint-ignore`",
     "ANSIBLE_LINT_WRITE_TMP": "Tells linter to dump fixes into different temp files instead of overriding original. Used internally for testing.",
+    SKIP_SCHEMA_UPDATE: "Tells ansible-lint to skip schema refresh.",
 }
 
 EPILOG = (