diff --git a/tests/CI/extras.txt b/tests/CI/extras.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..36428beb4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/CI/extras.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+https://github.com/asterisk/starpy/archive/refs/heads/1.1.zip
+https://github.com/asterisk/yappcap/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
diff --git a/tests/CI/requirements.txt b/tests/CI/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b233fa427e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/CI/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+attrs==21.4.0
+autobahn==21.2.1
+Automat==20.2.0
+certifi==2021.10.8
+cffi==1.15.0
+charset-normalizer==2.0.12
+constantly==15.1.0
+construct==2.10.68
+cryptography==37.0.2
+Cython==0.29.28
+hyperlink==21.0.0
+idna==3.3
+incremental==21.3.0
+lxml==4.8.0
+netifaces>=0.10.4
+pycparser==2.21
+PyYAML==6.0
+PyXB==1.2.6
+rawsocket==0.2
+requests==2.27.1
+six==1.16.0
+Twisted==22.4.0
+txaio==22.2.1
+typing_extensions==4.1.1
+urllib3==1.26.9
+zope.interface==5.4.0
diff --git a/tests/CI/runTestsuite.sh b/tests/CI/runTestsuite.sh
index 466991a44c..423783ad7d 100755
--- a/tests/CI/runTestsuite.sh
+++ b/tests/CI/runTestsuite.sh
@@ -12,13 +12,33 @@ fi
 
 pushd $TESTSUITE_DIR
 
+if [[ "$VIRTUAL_ENV" != "" ]]
+then
+		echo "Detected activated virtual environment:"
+		echo $VIRTUAL_ENV
+		echo "Skipping creation of new environment"
+else
+	python3 -m venv ${TESTSUITE_DIR}/.venv
+	source ${TESTSUITE_DIR}/.venv/bin/activate
+	if [[ "$VIRTUAL_ENV" != "" ]]
+	then
+		echo "Successfully activated virtual environment:"
+		echo $VIRTUAL_ENV
+		python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+		python -m pip install -r ${CIDIR}/requirements.txt
+		python -m pip install -r ${CIDIR}/extras.txt
+	else
+		echo "Virtual environment failed, attempting fall-back method"
+		export PYTHONPATH=./lib/python/
+	fi
+fi
+
 ./cleanup-test-remnants.sh
 
 if [ $REALTIME -eq 1 ] ; then
 	$CIDIR/setupRealtime.sh --initialize-db=${INITIALIZE_DB:?0}
 fi
 
-export PYTHONPATH=./lib/python/
 echo "Running tests ${TESTSUITE_COMMAND} ${AST_WORK_DIR:+with work directory ${AST_WORK_DIR}}"
 ./runtests.py --cleanup --timeout=${TEST_TIMEOUT} ${TESTSUITE_COMMAND} | contrib/scripts/pretty_print --no-color --no-timer --term-width=120 --show-errors || :