Aspects presented herein may enable a UE to notify a base station about the availability of a relay UE that is not connected to the base station. In one aspect, a first UE or a second UE transmits or receives a relay request of the first UE via sidelink, the first UE being in an RRC connected mode with a base station. The first UE or the second UE receives or transmits, via the sidelink, an indication of relay availability of a second UE in an RRC inactive mode in response to the relay request. The first UE and the second UE receive a configuration from the base station for relay of communication from the base station over the sidelink between the first UE and the second UE.