The present technology is directed to routing a user equipment (UE) to a network node, for example, a gNB or ng-eNB that supports a slice requirement of the UE. A first network node can receive a Radio Resource Control (RCC) connection request from a UE, and can determine that a slice requirement of the UE is not supported by the first network node. The first network node can further select a second network node that supports the slice requirement of the UE, and route the UE to connect to the second network node.