diff --git a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/workers/model_wrapper.py b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/workers/model_wrapper.py
index ba2069f27a..6ed9b5b8d1 100644
--- a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/workers/model_wrapper.py
+++ b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/workers/model_wrapper.py
@@ -138,7 +138,22 @@ def __init__(
             if meta_init:
                 with torch.device("meta"):
                     self.model = model_class.from_config(model_config, trust_remote_code=True)
-                self.model.to(torch.bfloat16 if bf16 else torch.float32)
+                target_dtype = torch.bfloat16 if bf16 else torch.float32
+                # Cast just params + persistent buffers to the target dtype;
+                # leave non-persistent buffers at their init dtype. For example, transformers
+                # builds `Qwen3RotaryEmbedding.inv_freq` via a RoPE init that hardcodes
+                # `dtype=torch.float`, so it is fp32 no matter the model dtype, which rank-0's
+                # `from_pretrained` preserves but a blanket `.to` would clobber.
+                # SEE: https://github.com/huggingface/transformers/blob/v5.8.0/src/transformers/modeling_rope_utils.py#L177-L178
+                # Otherwise, e.g., non-rank-0's `inv_freq` is bf16 while rank-0's stays fp32,
+                # so the init-time rank-0→all broadcast that seeds these buffers copies
+                # rank-0's fp32 bytes into that half-width bf16 buffer as huge garbage values
+                non_persistent_names = {n for n, _ in self.model.named_non_persistent_buffers()}
+                for p in self.model.parameters():
+                    p.data = p.data.to(target_dtype)
+                for name, buf in self.model.named_buffers():
+                    if name not in non_persistent_names:
+                        buf.data = buf.data.to(target_dtype)
             else:
                 self.model = model_class.from_pretrained(
                     pretrain_or_model,
diff --git a/tests/backends/skyrl_train/gpu/gpu_ci/test_meta_init.py b/tests/backends/skyrl_train/gpu/gpu_ci/test_meta_init.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fbf298dbdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/backends/skyrl_train/gpu/gpu_ci/test_meta_init.py
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+"""
+uv run --isolated --extra dev --extra fsdp pytest -s -vvv tests/backends/skyrl_train/gpu/gpu_ci/test_meta_init.py
+
+Multi-rank FSDP2 meta-init correctness under sequence parallelism.
+"""
+
+import pytest
+import ray
+import torch
+
+from skyrl.backends.skyrl_train.distributed.utils import get_free_port
+from skyrl.backends.skyrl_train.workers.fsdp.fsdp_worker import FSDPRefWorkerBase
+from skyrl.train.config import AlgorithmConfig, RefConfig, TrainerConfig
+
+# "Tied" word embeddings share one weight tensor between the input embedding and the output `lm_head`:
+# https://github.com/huggingface/transformers/blob/v5.8.0/src/transformers/modeling_utils.py#L2582
+# This test needs a model that is both non-tied and has a realistic head_dim:
+# - Non-tied: `FSDPRefWorkerBase.init_model` gates meta-init on `not tie_word_embeddings`, so a
+#   tied model (e.g. Qwen3-0.6B) skips meta-init entirely and can't reproduce the bug.
+# - Realistic head_dim (e.g. Qwen3-8B's 128): with that many frequencies,
+#   the bf16 `inv_freq` ends up holding a NaN and the forward NaNs with SP>1;
+#   a tiny head_dim (e.g. 4) only shows the dtype change (bf16 vs fp32), not a NaN.
+MODEL_NAME = "Qwen/Qwen3-8B"
+SERVER_HOST = "127.0.0.1"
+WORLD_SIZE = 2
+SP_SIZE = 2
+SEQ_LEN = 128
+
+
+@ray.remote(num_gpus=1)
+class MetaInitProbeRefWorker(FSDPRefWorkerBase):
+    def record_inv_freq(self) -> list[dict]:
+        out: list[dict] = []
+        for name, buf in self.model.model.named_buffers():
+            if not name.endswith("inv_freq") or name.endswith("original_inv_freq"):
+                # `original_inv_freq` is transformers' pre-cast backup of `inv_freq`.
+                # It has the same data, so skip it to avoid duplicate records
+                continue
+            out.append(
+                {
+                    "name": name,
+                    "n_nan": int(torch.isnan(buf).sum().item()),
+                    "dtype": str(buf.dtype),
+                    "first5": buf.detach().float().cpu().tolist()[:5],
+                }
+            )
+        return out
+
+    def forward_and_count_nan(self, sequences: torch.Tensor) -> int:
+        sequences = sequences.to("cuda")
+        with torch.no_grad(), torch.autocast(dtype=torch.bfloat16, device_type="cuda"):
+            log_probs = self.model(sequences, sequences.shape[1] - 1, torch.ones_like(sequences))
+        return int(torch.isnan(log_probs).sum().item())
+
+
+@pytest.mark.usefixtures("ray_init_fixture")
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("bf16", [True, False])
+def test_meta_init_inv_freq_finite_under_sp(bf16: bool) -> None:
+    """Meta-init under SP=2 must leave every rank's rotary `inv_freq` finite and its
+    forward NaN-free, for both bf16 (which triggers the dtype mismatch) and fp32."""
+    cfg = TrainerConfig(
+        algorithm=AlgorithmConfig(temperature=0.1),  # Placeholder non-None temperature
+        ref=RefConfig(sequence_parallel_size=SP_SIZE),
+        bf16=bf16,
+    )
+    # All WORLD_SIZE worker actors must agree on `MASTER_PORT`; pick once on the driver
+    master_port = get_free_port()
+
+    actors = [
+        MetaInitProbeRefWorker.remote(
+            cfg=cfg,
+            world_size=WORLD_SIZE,
+            rank=r,
+            local_rank=0,
+            master_addr=SERVER_HOST,
+            master_port=master_port,
+            sequence_parallel_size=SP_SIZE,
+        )
+        for r in range(WORLD_SIZE)
+    ]
+    # Stand up the NCCL process group + device mesh, then build the FSDP2 model
+    ray.get([a.init_worker_process_group.remote() for a in actors])
+    ray.get([a.init_model.remote(MODEL_NAME) for a in actors])
+
+    # What we're protecting against: NaN logits with SP>1.
+    # Non-rank-0's `inv_freq` is cast to bf16 and ends up holding a NaN,
+    # which poisons the SP-coupled attention so every rank's forward produces NaN logits
+    sequences = torch.randint(10, 10_000, (1, SEQ_LEN), dtype=torch.long)
+    nan_counts = ray.get([a.forward_and_count_nan.remote(sequences) for a in actors])
+    for rank, n_nan in enumerate(nan_counts):
+        assert n_nan == 0, f"rank {rank}: log_probs has {n_nan} NaN positions under SP={SP_SIZE} (bf16={bf16})"
+
+    # Also assert the dtype: the unfixed meta-init casts non-rank-0's buffers
+    # (including `inv_freq`) to bf16, but the forward only NaNs when those bf16 values include a NaN,
+    # so this dtype assertion catches the bad cast even where the forward stays finite
+    inv_freq_records = ray.get([a.record_inv_freq.remote() for a in actors])
+    for rank, records in enumerate(inv_freq_records):
+        assert records, f"rank {rank}: test expects a model with rotary embeddings, but found no inv_freq buffers"
+        for record in records:
+            assert record["dtype"] == "torch.float32", (
+                f"rank {rank}: {record['name']} is {record['dtype']} after FSDP init, "
+                f"expected fp32 (cast to bf16 by meta-init, diverging from rank-0)"
+            )
+            assert record["n_nan"] == 0, (
+                f"rank {rank}: {record['name']} non-finite after FSDP init "
+                f"(n_nan={record['n_nan']}, dtype={record['dtype']}, first5={record['first5']})"
+            )
diff --git a/tests/backends/skyrl_train/models/test_models.py b/tests/backends/skyrl_train/models/test_models.py
index 546b4c3b25..d2ff394deb 100644
--- a/tests/backends/skyrl_train/models/test_models.py
+++ b/tests/backends/skyrl_train/models/test_models.py
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 import torch
 from flash_attn.bert_padding import pad_input, unpad_input
 
+from skyrl.backends.skyrl_train.workers.model_wrapper import HFModelWrapper
+
 
 @pytest.fixture
 def input_ids():
@@ -65,3 +67,25 @@ def test_flash_attention_sequence_unpacking(input_ids, attention_mask, position_
     assert torch.equal(unpacked_input_ids, input_ids)
     # mask out the attention mask because the padding value used can differ
     assert torch.equal(unpacked_position_ids * attention_mask, position_ids * attention_mask)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("bf16", [True, False])
+def test_meta_init_keeps_non_persistent_buffers_fp32(bf16: bool) -> None:
+    """Meta-init casts params and persistent buffers to the target dtype while leaving
+    non-persistent buffers (rotary `inv_freq`) at fp32."""
+    target_dtype = torch.bfloat16 if bf16 else torch.float32
+    wrapper = HFModelWrapper(
+        "llamafactory/tiny-random-Llama-3",  # any model with a rotary `inv_freq` buffer
+        bf16=bf16,
+        meta_init=True,  # We're exercising the non-rank-0 meta path
+    )
+
+    for name, param in wrapper.model.named_parameters():
+        assert param.dtype == target_dtype, f"param {name} is {param.dtype}, expected {target_dtype}"
+
+    inv_freq_seen = False
+    for name, buf in wrapper.model.named_non_persistent_buffers():
+        assert buf.dtype == torch.float32, f"non-persistent buffer {name} is {buf.dtype}, expected fp32"
+        if name.endswith("inv_freq"):
+            inv_freq_seen = True
+    assert inv_freq_seen, "expected at least one inv_freq buffer in the model"