diff --git a/pkg/controller/machine/BUILD.bazel b/pkg/controller/machine/BUILD.bazel
index 2e84bb00a6de..38e73928346d 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/machine/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pkg/controller/machine/BUILD.bazel
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ go_library(
     deps = [
         "//pkg/apis/cluster/v1alpha1:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/controller/error:go_default_library",
+        "//pkg/controller/remote:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/util:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/pkg/errors:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/api/core/v1:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/controller/machine/machine_controller.go b/pkg/controller/machine/machine_controller.go
index 3b29738ea4ac..5352e22217b1 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/machine/machine_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/machine/machine_controller.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/klog"
 	clusterv1 "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/pkg/apis/cluster/v1alpha1"
 	controllerError "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/pkg/controller/error"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/pkg/controller/remote"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/pkg/util"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/controller"
@@ -181,8 +182,8 @@ func (r *ReconcileMachine) Reconcile(request reconcile.Request) (reconcile.Resul
 
 		if m.Status.NodeRef != nil {
 			klog.Infof("Deleting node %q for machine %q", m.Status.NodeRef.Name, m.Name)
-			if err := r.deleteNode(ctx, m.Status.NodeRef.Name); err != nil {
-				klog.Errorf("Error deleting node %q for machine %q", name, err)
+			if err := r.deleteNode(ctx, cluster, m.Status.NodeRef.Name); err != nil && !apierrors.IsNotFound(err) {
+				klog.Errorf("Error deleting node %q for machine %q: %v", m.Status.NodeRef.Name, name, err)
 				return reconcile.Result{}, err
 			}
 		}
@@ -253,6 +254,9 @@ func (r *ReconcileMachine) getCluster(ctx context.Context, machine *clusterv1.Ma
 	return cluster, nil
 }
 
+// isDeletedAllowed returns false if the Machine we're trying to delete is the
+// Machine hosting this controller. This method is meant to be functional
+// only when the controllers are running in the workload cluster.
 func (r *ReconcileMachine) isDeleteAllowed(machine *clusterv1.Machine) bool {
 	if r.nodeName == "" || machine.Status.NodeRef == nil {
 		return true
@@ -274,15 +278,30 @@ func (r *ReconcileMachine) isDeleteAllowed(machine *clusterv1.Machine) bool {
 	return node.UID != machine.Status.NodeRef.UID
 }
 
-func (r *ReconcileMachine) deleteNode(ctx context.Context, name string) error {
-	var node corev1.Node
-	if err := r.Client.Get(ctx, client.ObjectKey{Name: name}, &node); err != nil {
-		if apierrors.IsNotFound(err) {
-			klog.V(2).Infof("Node %q not found", name)
-			return nil
+func (r *ReconcileMachine) deleteNode(ctx context.Context, cluster *clusterv1.Cluster, name string) error {
+	if cluster == nil {
+		// Try to retrieve the Node from the local cluster, if no Cluster reference is found.
+		var node corev1.Node
+		if err := r.Client.Get(ctx, client.ObjectKey{Name: name}, &node); err != nil {
+			return err
 		}
-		klog.Errorf("Failed to get node %q: %v", name, err)
-		return err
+		return r.Client.Delete(ctx, &node)
+	}
+
+	// Otherwise, proceed to get the remote cluster client and get the Node.
+	remoteClient, err := remote.NewClusterClient(r.Client, cluster)
+	if err != nil {
+		klog.Errorf("Error creating a remote client for cluster %q while deleting Machine %q, won't retry: %v",
+			cluster.Name, name, err)
+		return nil
 	}
-	return r.Client.Delete(ctx, &node)
+
+	corev1Remote, err := remoteClient.CoreV1()
+	if err != nil {
+		klog.Errorf("Error creating a remote client for cluster %q while deleting Machine %q, won't retry: %v",
+			cluster.Name, name, err)
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return corev1Remote.Nodes().Delete(name, &metav1.DeleteOptions{})
 }
diff --git a/pkg/controller/machineset/BUILD.bazel b/pkg/controller/machineset/BUILD.bazel
index 3488d679f8e2..b7b90d990a44 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/machineset/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pkg/controller/machineset/BUILD.bazel
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ go_library(
     deps = [
         "//pkg/apis/cluster/v1alpha1:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/controller/noderefutil:go_default_library",
+        "//pkg/controller/remote:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/util:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/pkg/errors:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/api/core/v1:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/controller/machineset/status.go b/pkg/controller/machineset/status.go
index 645d0dbb8c4f..1234ff3e8c0d 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/machineset/status.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/machineset/status.go
@@ -20,13 +20,13 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 
-	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
 	"k8s.io/klog"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/pkg/apis/cluster/v1alpha1"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/pkg/controller/noderefutil"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/pkg/controller/remote"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 )
 
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ const (
 
 func (c *ReconcileMachineSet) calculateStatus(ms *v1alpha1.MachineSet, filteredMachines []*v1alpha1.Machine) v1alpha1.MachineSetStatus {
 	newStatus := ms.Status
+
 	// Count the number of machines that have labels matching the labels of the machine
 	// template of the replica set, the matching machines may have more
 	// labels than are in the template. Because the label of machineTemplateSpec is
@@ -46,15 +47,28 @@ func (c *ReconcileMachineSet) calculateStatus(ms *v1alpha1.MachineSet, filteredM
 	readyReplicasCount := 0
 	availableReplicasCount := 0
 	templateLabel := labels.Set(ms.Spec.Template.Labels).AsSelectorPreValidated()
+
+	// Retrieve Cluster, if any.
+	cluster, _ := c.getCluster(ms)
+
 	for _, machine := range filteredMachines {
 		if templateLabel.Matches(labels.Set(machine.Labels)) {
 			fullyLabeledReplicasCount++
 		}
-		node, err := c.getMachineNode(machine)
+
+		if machine.Status.NodeRef == nil {
+			klog.Warningf("Unable to retrieve Node status for Machine %q in namespace %q: missing NodeRef",
+				machine.Name, machine.Namespace)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		node, err := c.getMachineNode(cluster, machine)
 		if err != nil {
-			klog.V(4).Infof("Unable to get node for machine %v, %v", machine.Name, err)
+			klog.Warningf("Unable to retrieve Node status for Machine %q in namespace %q: %v",
+				machine.Name, machine.Namespace, err)
 			continue
 		}
+
 		if noderefutil.IsNodeReady(node) {
 			readyReplicasCount++
 			if noderefutil.IsNodeAvailable(node, ms.Spec.MinReadySeconds, metav1.Now()) {
@@ -122,13 +136,24 @@ func updateMachineSetStatus(c client.Client, ms *v1alpha1.MachineSet, newStatus
 	return nil, updateErr
 }
 
-func (c *ReconcileMachineSet) getMachineNode(machine *v1alpha1.Machine) (*corev1.Node, error) {
-	nodeRef := machine.Status.NodeRef
-	if nodeRef == nil {
-		return nil, errors.New("machine has no node ref")
+func (c *ReconcileMachineSet) getMachineNode(cluster *v1alpha1.Cluster, machine *v1alpha1.Machine) (*corev1.Node, error) {
+	if cluster == nil {
+		// Try to retrieve the Node from the local cluster, if no Cluster reference is found.
+		node := &corev1.Node{}
+		err := c.Client.Get(context.Background(), client.ObjectKey{Name: machine.Status.NodeRef.Name}, node)
+		return node, err
+	}
+
+	// Otherwise, proceed to get the remote cluster client and get the Node.
+	remoteClient, err := remote.NewClusterClient(c.Client, cluster)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	corev1Remote, err := remoteClient.CoreV1()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	node := &corev1.Node{}
-	err := c.Client.Get(context.Background(), client.ObjectKey{Name: nodeRef.Name}, node)
-	return node, err
+	return corev1Remote.Nodes().Get(machine.Status.NodeRef.Name, metav1.GetOptions{})
 }