diff --git a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/llm_response_utils/get_headers.py b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/llm_response_utils/get_headers.py
index cd49b5a4a87..287d22d0348 100644
--- a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/llm_response_utils/get_headers.py
+++ b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/llm_response_utils/get_headers.py
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ def get_response_headers(_response_headers: Optional[dict] = None) -> dict:
         openai_headers["x-ratelimit-remaining-tokens"] = _response_headers[
             "x-ratelimit-remaining-tokens"
         ]
+    if "retry-after" in _response_headers:
+        openai_headers["retry-after"] = _response_headers["retry-after"]
     llm_provider_headers = _get_llm_provider_headers(_response_headers)
     return {**llm_provider_headers, **openai_headers}
 
diff --git a/tests/llm_translation/test_llm_response_utils/test_get_headers.py b/tests/llm_translation/test_llm_response_utils/test_get_headers.py
index f0cc7ca61f1..e7efc9d1d1c 100644
--- a/tests/llm_translation/test_llm_response_utils/test_get_headers.py
+++ b/tests/llm_translation/test_llm_response_utils/test_get_headers.py
@@ -77,3 +77,42 @@ def test_get_llm_provider_headers():
     }
     result = _get_llm_provider_headers(input_headers)
     assert result == expected_output, "Unexpected output for _get_llm_provider_headers"
+
+def test_get_response_headers_with_retry_after():
+    """
+    When upstream provider returns retry-after header (e.g. on 429),
+    it should be forwarded as both 'retry-after' and 'llm_provider-retry-after'.
+
+    Ref: https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm/issues/21553
+    """
+    input_headers = {
+        "retry-after": "57",
+        "x-ratelimit-limit-tokens": "100000",
+        "content-type": "application/json",
+    }
+    result = get_response_headers(input_headers)
+
+    # retry-after should be preserved as a bare header
+    assert result.get("retry-after") == "57"
+    # retry-after should also be present as llm_provider-retry-after
+    assert result.get("llm_provider-retry-after") == "57"
+    # OpenAI headers should still work
+    assert result.get("x-ratelimit-limit-tokens") == "100000"
+    # Other headers should only be prefixed
+    assert result.get("llm_provider-content-type") == "application/json"
+    assert "content-type" not in result
+
+
+def test_get_response_headers_without_retry_after():
+    """
+    When upstream provider does NOT return retry-after header,
+    the output should not contain a retry-after key.
+    """
+    input_headers = {
+        "x-ratelimit-limit-tokens": "100000",
+        "content-type": "application/json",
+    }
+    result = get_response_headers(input_headers)
+
+    assert "retry-after" not in result
+    assert result.get("x-ratelimit-limit-tokens") == "100000"
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/test_exception_header_preservation.py b/tests/test_litellm/test_exception_header_preservation.py
index d3e33fa13b3..0a73bfbaa8c 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/test_exception_header_preservation.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/test_exception_header_preservation.py
@@ -268,3 +268,52 @@ class TestProxyHeaderExtraction:
         # Verify headers are extracted and prefixed correctly
         assert headers.get("llm_provider-x-request-id") == "req-abc123"
         assert headers.get("llm_provider-x-ms-region") == "eastus"
+
+    def test_proxy_forwards_retry_after_from_upstream_429(self):
+        """
+        When upstream provider returns 429 with retry-after header,
+        proxy should forward it as a bare 'retry-after' header (not just
+        'llm_provider-retry-after').
+
+        Ref: https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm/issues/21553
+        """
+        from litellm.litellm_core_utils.llm_response_utils.get_headers import (
+            get_response_headers,
+        )
+        from litellm.exceptions import RateLimitError
+
+        mock_response = httpx.Response(
+            status_code=429,
+            headers={
+                "retry-after": "57",
+                "x-ratelimit-limit-tokens": "100000",
+                "x-ratelimit-remaining-tokens": "0",
+                "content-type": "application/json",
+            },
+            request=httpx.Request(
+                "POST", "https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions"
+            ),
+        )
+        error = RateLimitError(
+            message="Rate limit exceeded",
+            model="gpt-4",
+            llm_provider="azure",
+            response=mock_response,
+        )
+
+        # Simulate proxy header extraction logic from
+        # common_request_processing.py _handle_llm_api_exception
+        headers = getattr(error, "headers", None) or {}
+        if not headers:
+            _response = getattr(error, "response", None)
+            if _response is not None:
+                _response_headers = getattr(_response, "headers", None)
+                if _response_headers:
+                    headers = get_response_headers(dict(_response_headers))
+
+        # The bare retry-after header should be present for OpenAI SDK compat
+        assert headers.get("retry-after") == "57"
+        # The prefixed version should also be present
+        assert headers.get("llm_provider-retry-after") == "57"
+        # OpenAI-compatible rate limit headers should be preserved
+        assert headers.get("x-ratelimit-limit-tokens") == "100000"