diff --git a/numba/cuda/tests/cudapy/test_cffi.py b/numba/cuda/tests/cudapy/test_cffi.py
index 717f640262c..ee09fcc3129 100644
--- a/numba/cuda/tests/cudapy/test_cffi.py
+++ b/numba/cuda/tests/cudapy/test_cffi.py
@@ -1,20 +1,16 @@
 import numpy as np
 
-try:
-    import cffi
-    _have_cffi = True
-except ImportError:
-    _have_cffi = False
-
 from numba import cuda, types
 from numba.cuda.testing import (skip_on_cudasim, test_data_dir, unittest,
                                 CUDATestCase)
+from numba.tests.support import skip_unless_cffi
 
 
-@unittest.skipUnless(_have_cffi, 'Needs CFFI')
+@skip_unless_cffi
 @skip_on_cudasim('Simulator does not support linking')
 class TestCFFI(CUDATestCase):
     def test_from_buffer(self):
+        import cffi
         ffi = cffi.FFI()
 
         link = str(test_data_dir / 'jitlink.ptx')
diff --git a/numba/cuda/tests/doc_examples/test_ffi.py b/numba/cuda/tests/doc_examples/test_ffi.py
index 58b1ff6bcf8..20f1339d520 100644
--- a/numba/cuda/tests/doc_examples/test_ffi.py
+++ b/numba/cuda/tests/doc_examples/test_ffi.py
@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@
 
 import unittest
 from numba.cuda.testing import (CUDATestCase, skip_on_cudasim)
+from numba.tests.support import skip_unless_cffi
 
 
+@skip_unless_cffi
 @skip_on_cudasim("cudasim doesn't support cuda import at non-top-level")
 class TestFFI(CUDATestCase):
     def test_ex_linking_cu(self):
diff --git a/numba/tests/support.py b/numba/tests/support.py
index a3464e42594..89b0db04e66 100644
--- a/numba/tests/support.py
+++ b/numba/tests/support.py
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 from numba import testing, types
 from numba.core import errors, typing, utils, config, cpu
+from numba.core.typing import cffi_utils
 from numba.core.compiler import (compile_extra, compile_isolated, Flags,
                                  DEFAULT_FLAGS, CompilerBase,
                                  DefaultPassBuilder)
@@ -109,6 +110,8 @@ def expected_failure_py311(fn):
 _msg = "SciPy needed for test"
 skip_unless_scipy = unittest.skipIf(scipy is None, _msg)
 
+skip_unless_cffi = unittest.skipUnless(cffi_utils.SUPPORTED, 'requires cffi')
+
 _lnx_reason = 'linux only test'
 linux_only = unittest.skipIf(not sys.platform.startswith('linux'), _lnx_reason)
 
diff --git a/numba/tests/test_cffi.py b/numba/tests/test_cffi.py
index f9d97f49ee5..8ed5faf649a 100644
--- a/numba/tests/test_cffi.py
+++ b/numba/tests/test_cffi.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 import numba.core.typing.cffi_utils as cffi_support
 from numba.core import types, errors
 from numba.core.compiler import compile_isolated, Flags
-from numba.tests.support import TestCase, tag
+from numba.tests.support import TestCase, skip_unless_cffi, tag
 
 import numba.tests.cffi_usecases as mod
 import unittest
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@
 no_pyobj_flags = Flags()
 
 
-@unittest.skipUnless(cffi_support.SUPPORTED,
-                     "CFFI not supported -- please install the cffi module")
+@skip_unless_cffi
 class TestCFFI(TestCase):
 
     # Need to run the tests serially because of race conditions in
diff --git a/numba/tests/test_cfunc.py b/numba/tests/test_cfunc.py
index 77ae941d4af..1920b2e22e9 100644
--- a/numba/tests/test_cfunc.py
+++ b/numba/tests/test_cfunc.py
@@ -14,15 +14,11 @@
 from numba import cfunc, carray, farray, njit
 from numba.core import types, typing, utils
 import numba.core.typing.cffi_utils as cffi_support
-from numba.tests.support import TestCase, tag, captured_stderr
+from numba.tests.support import (TestCase, skip_unless_cffi, tag,
+                                 captured_stderr)
 import unittest
 from numba.np import numpy_support
 
-skip_cffi_unsupported = unittest.skipUnless(
-    cffi_support.SUPPORTED,
-    "CFFI not supported -- please install the cffi module",
-)
-
 
 def add_usecase(a, b):
     return a + b
@@ -130,7 +126,7 @@ def test_basic(self):
 
         self.assertPreciseEqual(ct(2.0, 3.5), 5.5)
 
-    @skip_cffi_unsupported
+    @skip_unless_cffi
     def test_cffi(self):
         from numba.tests import cffi_usecases
         ffi, lib = cffi_usecases.load_inline_module()
@@ -304,7 +300,7 @@ def test_numba_farray(self):
         self.check_numba_carray_farray(farray_usecase, farray_dtype_usecase)
 
 
-@skip_cffi_unsupported
+@skip_unless_cffi
 class TestCffiStruct(TestCase):
     c_source = """
 typedef struct _big_struct {
diff --git a/numba/tests/test_errorhandling.py b/numba/tests/test_errorhandling.py
index 88e696d002a..85369d4c8f3 100644
--- a/numba/tests/test_errorhandling.py
+++ b/numba/tests/test_errorhandling.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 
 from numba import jit, njit, typed, int64, types
 from numba.core import errors
-import numba.core.typing.cffi_utils as cffi_support
 from numba.experimental import structref
 from numba.extending import (overload, intrinsic, overload_method,
                              overload_attribute)
@@ -20,7 +19,8 @@
 from numba.core.types.functions import _err_reasons as error_reasons
 
 from numba.tests.support import (skip_parfors_unsupported, override_config,
-                                 SerialMixin, skip_unless_scipy)
+                                 SerialMixin, skip_unless_cffi,
+                                 skip_unless_scipy)
 import unittest
 
 # used in TestMiscErrorHandling::test_handling_of_write_to_*_global
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ def foo():
         excstr = str(raises.exception)
         self.assertIn("Type Restricted Function in function 'unknown'", excstr)
 
-    @unittest.skipUnless(cffi_support.SUPPORTED, "CFFI not supported")
+    @skip_unless_cffi
     def test_cffi_function_pointer_template_source(self):
         from numba.tests import cffi_usecases as mod
         mod.init()
diff --git a/numba/tests/test_nrt.py b/numba/tests/test_nrt.py
index 1e79f31e9ce..3c10199bcc1 100644
--- a/numba/tests/test_nrt.py
+++ b/numba/tests/test_nrt.py
@@ -20,12 +20,11 @@
 from numba.core.imputils import impl_ret_untracked
 from llvmlite import ir
 import llvmlite.binding as llvm
-import numba.core.typing.cffi_utils as cffi_support
 from numba.core.unsafe.nrt import NRT_get_api
 
 from numba.tests.support import (EnableNRTStatsMixin, TestCase, temp_directory,
                                  import_dynamic, skip_if_32bit,
-                                 run_in_subprocess)
+                                 skip_unless_cffi, run_in_subprocess)
 from numba.core.registry import cpu_target
 import unittest
 
@@ -599,7 +598,7 @@ def foo(x):
         self.assertEqual(foo(10), 22) # expect (10 + 1) * 2 = 22
 
 
-@unittest.skipUnless(cffi_support.SUPPORTED, "cffi required")
+@skip_unless_cffi
 class TestNrtExternalCFFI(EnableNRTStatsMixin, TestCase):
     """Testing the use of externally compiled C code that use NRT
     """
diff --git a/numba/tests/test_typeof.py b/numba/tests/test_typeof.py
index 6f61c370e37..67150aa8db4 100644
--- a/numba/tests/test_typeof.py
+++ b/numba/tests/test_typeof.py
@@ -10,14 +10,13 @@
 import numpy as np
 
 import unittest
-import numba.core.typing.cffi_utils as cffi_support
 from numba.core import types
 from numba.core.errors import NumbaValueError, NumbaTypeError
 from numba.misc.special import typeof
 from numba.core.dispatcher import OmittedArg
 from numba._dispatcher import compute_fingerprint
 
-from numba.tests.support import TestCase, tag
+from numba.tests.support import TestCase, skip_unless_cffi, tag
 from numba.tests.test_numpy_support import ValueTypingTestBase
 from numba.tests.ctypes_usecases import *
 from numba.tests.enum_usecases import *
@@ -282,7 +281,7 @@ def test_ctypes(self):
         self.assertNotEqual(ty_cos.get_pointer(c_cos),
                             ty_sin.get_pointer(c_sin))
 
-    @unittest.skipUnless(cffi_support.SUPPORTED, "CFFI not supported")
+    @skip_unless_cffi
     def test_cffi(self):
         from numba.tests import cffi_usecases as mod
         mod.init()