diff --git a/Lib/test/test_ascii_formatd.py b/Lib/test/test_ascii_formatd.py
index eaf52c4da0b..65d86085855 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_ascii_formatd.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_ascii_formatd.py
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 # Test that it works, and test that it's deprecated.
 
 import unittest
-from test.support import check_warnings, run_unittest, cpython_only
+from test.support import check_warnings, run_unittest, cpython_only, import_module
+
+import_module('ctypes')
 
 class FormatDeprecationTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 8c27fba40e6..9040939989e 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -123,6 +123,8 @@ Build
 Tests
 -----
 
+- Issue #8531: Skip test_ascii_formatd if ctypes module is missing
+
 - Issue #3864: Skip three test_signal tests on freebsd6 because they fail
   if any thread was previously started, most likely due to a platform bug.