diff --git a/pkg/features/kube_features.go b/pkg/features/kube_features.go
index fe246814bfd..ab8292b7b78 100644
--- a/pkg/features/kube_features.go
+++ b/pkg/features/kube_features.go
@@ -762,6 +762,14 @@ const (
 	//
 	// Allows clients to request a duration for certificates issued via the Kubernetes CSR API.
 	CSRDuration featuregate.Feature = "CSRDuration"
+
+	// owner: @AkihiroSuda
+	// alpha: v1.22
+	//
+	// Enables support for running kubelet in a user namespace.
+	// The user namespace has to be created before running kubelet.
+	// All the node components such as CRI need to be running in the same user namespace.
+	KubeletInUserNamespace featuregate.Feature = "KubeletInUserNamespace"
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -876,6 +884,7 @@ var defaultKubernetesFeatureGates = map[featuregate.Feature]featuregate.FeatureS
 	ReadWriteOncePod:                               {Default: false, PreRelease: featuregate.Alpha},
 	CSRDuration:                                    {Default: true, PreRelease: featuregate.Beta},
 	DelegateFSGroupToCSIDriver:                     {Default: false, PreRelease: featuregate.Alpha},
+	KubeletInUserNamespace:                         {Default: false, PreRelease: featuregate.Alpha},
 
 	// inherited features from generic apiserver, relisted here to get a conflict if it is changed
 	// unintentionally on either side:
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_linux.go b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_linux.go
index d98162ec8a8..03f5aa36503 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_linux.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_linux.go
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import (
 	utilpath "k8s.io/utils/path"
 
 	libcontainerdevices "github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/devices"
+	libcontaineruserns "github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/userns"
 	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/resource"
 	utilerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
@@ -455,6 +456,13 @@ func setupKernelTunables(option KernelTunableBehavior) error {
 			klog.V(2).InfoS("Updating kernel flag", "flag", flag, "expectedValue", expectedValue, "actualValue", val)
 			err = sysctl.SetSysctl(flag, expectedValue)
 			if err != nil {
+				if libcontaineruserns.RunningInUserNS() {
+					if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(kubefeatures.KubeletInUserNamespace) {
+						klog.V(2).InfoS("Updating kernel flag failed (running in UserNS, ignoring)", "flag", flag, "err", err)
+						continue
+					}
+					klog.ErrorS(err, "Updating kernel flag failed (Hint: enable KubeletInUserNamespace feature flag to ignore the error)", "flag", flag)
+				}
 				errList = append(errList, err)
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
index 43cad89dba0..4cf6fe201ab 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/client-go/informers"
 
 	cadvisorapi "github.com/google/cadvisor/info/v1"
+	libcontaineruserns "github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/userns"
 	"k8s.io/mount-utils"
 	"k8s.io/utils/integer"
 
@@ -481,7 +482,19 @@ func NewMainKubelet(kubeCfg *kubeletconfiginternal.KubeletConfiguration,
 
 	oomWatcher, err := oomwatcher.NewWatcher(kubeDeps.Recorder)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		if libcontaineruserns.RunningInUserNS() {
+			if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.KubeletInUserNamespace) {
+				// oomwatcher.NewWatcher returns "open /dev/kmsg: operation not permitted" error,
+				// when running in a user namespace with sysctl value `kernel.dmesg_restrict=1`.
+				klog.V(2).InfoS("Failed to create an oomWatcher (running in UserNS, ignoring)", "err", err)
+				oomWatcher = nil
+			} else {
+				klog.ErrorS(err, "Failed to create an oomWatcher (running in UserNS, Hint: enable KubeletInUserNamespace feature flag to ignore the error)")
+				return nil, err
+			}
+		} else {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 	}
 
 	clusterDNS := make([]net.IP, 0, len(kubeCfg.ClusterDNS))
@@ -1360,8 +1373,10 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) initializeModules() error {
 	}
 
 	// Start out of memory watcher.
-	if err := kl.oomWatcher.Start(kl.nodeRef); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to start OOM watcher %v", err)
+	if kl.oomWatcher != nil {
+		if err := kl.oomWatcher.Start(kl.nodeRef); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to start OOM watcher: %w", err)
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Start resource analyzer
diff --git a/pkg/proxy/userspace/proxier.go b/pkg/proxy/userspace/proxier.go
index b9c14d28a4e..381fa842a2f 100644
--- a/pkg/proxy/userspace/proxier.go
+++ b/pkg/proxy/userspace/proxier.go
@@ -26,14 +26,17 @@ import (
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
+	libcontaineruserns "github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/userns"
 	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 	utilerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
 	utilnet "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
+	utilfeature "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature"
 	servicehelper "k8s.io/cloud-provider/service/helpers"
 	"k8s.io/klog/v2"
+	kubefeatures "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/features"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/proxy"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/proxy/config"
 	utilproxy "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/proxy/util"
@@ -231,7 +234,11 @@ func NewCustomProxier(loadBalancer LoadBalancer, listenIP net.IP, iptables iptab
 
 	err = setRLimit(64 * 1000)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to set open file handler limit: %v", err)
+		if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(kubefeatures.KubeletInUserNamespace) && libcontaineruserns.RunningInUserNS() {
+			klog.V(2).InfoS("Failed to set open file handler limit to 64000 (running in UserNS, ignoring)", "err", err)
+		} else {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to set open file handler limit to 64000: %w", err)
+		}
 	}
 
 	proxyPorts := newPortAllocator(pr)