diff --git a/pkg/releaseutil/manifest_sorter.go b/pkg/releaseutil/manifest_sorter.go
index 68ba1bf5e..5f4b4e8d9 100644
--- a/pkg/releaseutil/manifest_sorter.go
+++ b/pkg/releaseutil/manifest_sorter.go
@@ -129,10 +129,6 @@ func (file *manifestFile) sort(result *result) error {
 			return errors.Wrapf(err, "YAML parse error on %s", file.path)
 		}
 
-		if entry.Version != "" && !file.apis.Has(entry.Version) {
-			return errors.Errorf("apiVersion %q in %s is not available", entry.Version, file.path)
-		}
-
 		if !hasAnyAnnotation(entry) {
 			result.generic = append(result.generic, Manifest{
 				Name:    file.path,