diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/issue-2181 b/changelog/unreleased/issue-2181
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa42c45e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/unreleased/issue-2181
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Bugfix: Don't cancel timeout after 30 seconds for self-update
+
+https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/2181
diff --git a/internal/selfupdate/github.go b/internal/selfupdate/github.go
index 541112abc..637f6765e 100644
--- a/internal/selfupdate/github.go
+++ b/internal/selfupdate/github.go
@@ -112,9 +112,6 @@ func GitHubLatestRelease(ctx context.Context, owner, repo string) (Release, erro
 }
 
 func getGithubData(ctx context.Context, url string) ([]byte, error) {
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, githubAPITimeout)
-	defer cancel()
-
 	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, url, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err