diff --git a/lib/interfaces/common.js b/lib/interfaces/common.js
index ba8b5f85ed..a1612e3eb4 100644
--- a/lib/interfaces/common.js
+++ b/lib/interfaces/common.js
@@ -145,7 +145,16 @@ module.exports = function (suites, context, mocha) {
           throw createUnsupportedError('Pending test forbidden');
         }
         if (typeof opts.fn === 'function') {
-          opts.fn.call(suite);
+          const suiteResult = opts.fn.call(suite);
+          if (suiteResult instanceof Promise) {
+            errors.deprecate(
+              'Suite "' +
+                suite.fullTitle() +
+                '" returned a Promise. ' +
+                'Asynchronous suites are not supported, use a ' +
+                'synchronous callback instead.'
+            );
+          }
           suites.shift();
         } else if (typeof opts.fn === 'undefined' && !suite.pending) {
           throw createMissingArgumentError(
diff --git a/test/integration/fixtures/suite/suite-async-callback.fixture.js b/test/integration/fixtures/suite/suite-async-callback.fixture.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b642b22994
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/fixtures/suite/suite-async-callback.fixture.js
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+'use strict';
+
+describe('a suite with an async callback', async function () {});
diff --git a/test/integration/suite.spec.js b/test/integration/suite.spec.js
index 1b4c147261..1507fb0b96 100644
--- a/test/integration/suite.spec.js
+++ b/test/integration/suite.spec.js
@@ -72,3 +72,24 @@ describe('suite returning a value', function () {
     );
   });
 });
+
+describe('suite w/async callback', function () {
+  it('should print a helpful deprecation message when a callback for suite is async', function (done) {
+    run(
+      'suite/suite-async-callback.fixture.js',
+      args,
+      function (err, res) {
+        if (err) {
+          return done(err);
+        }
+        expect(
+          res.output,
+          'to match',
+          /Asynchronous suites are not supported, use a synchronous callback instead./
+        );
+        done();
+      },
+      {stdio: 'pipe'}
+    );
+  });
+});