2 Abbreviations: GPI anchor: glycosylphophatidylinositol anchor; ESCRT: endosomal sorting complexes required for transport; MVBs: multi vesicular bodies; ILVs: intraluminal vesicles; ERAD: endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein degradation; TMD: transmembrane domain; PVC: prevacuolar compartment; SNARE: soluble NSF attachment protein receptor; Cvt vesicle: cytoplasm to vacuole targeting vesicle Keywords: Protein degradation, secretory pathway, vacuole, vacuolar protease, membrane invagination Highlights: • ER-exited misfolded GPI-anchored proteins are routed to the vacuole via endosomes but do not internalize into intraluminal vesicles • Internalization occurs directly from the vacuolar membrane into intravacuolar mobile structures • Internalization from the vacuolar membrane depends on the proteolytic activity of the vacuolar protease Pep4 3 Summary Newly synthesized proteins of the secretory pathway are quality-controlled inside the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and, if not properly folded, are retained. An exception are glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins (GPI-APs) which can leave the ER even when misfolded and are routed to the vacuole/lysosome for degradation by largely unknown mechanisms linked to post-ER quality control. Using yeast as model organism,we show that Gas1*, an ER-exported misfolded GPI-AP, is diverted from the secretory pathway to endosomes for transport to the vacuole. However, Gas1* is not sorted into endosomal intraluminal vesicles but internalizes directly from the vacuolar membrane.There, the vacuolar protease Pep4, but not any other known vacuolar protease, is required for Gas1* internalization. Our data reveal novel and unexpected mechanisms for invaginations from the vacuolar membrane.