A method and system for network infrastructure driven context setup to facilitate roaming for a client coupled to the network. The method includes generating an optimized list of the client's neighbors. The list is suitably generated either statically or dynamically based on any number of parameters managed by the network element to ensure an optimal set of AP candidates are provided. At least one access point is selected from the optimized list. A pre-allocation of resources is initiated with the at least one access point prior to the client roaming