diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 910547a58f6..c99be2f2db0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ release.
 
 ### Compatibility
 
+- OpenTracing Shim: Allow invalid but sampled SpanContext to be returned.
+  ([#3471](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/3471))
+
 ### SDK Configuration
 
 ### Common
diff --git a/specification/compatibility/opentracing.md b/specification/compatibility/opentracing.md
index 96f011a5943..1481b0af2b7 100644
--- a/specification/compatibility/opentracing.md
+++ b/specification/compatibility/opentracing.md
@@ -194,12 +194,18 @@ registered or the global OpenTelemetry `Propagator`s, as configured at construct
 - `TextMap` and `HttpHeaders` formats MUST use their explicitly specified `TextMapPropagator`,
   if any, or else use the global `TextMapPropagator`.
 
-If the extracted `SpanContext` is invalid AND the extracted `Baggage` is empty, this operation
-MUST return a null value, and otherwise it MUST return a `SpanContext` Shim instance with
-the extracted values.
+The operation MUST return a `SpanContext` Shim instance with the extracted values if any of these conditions are met:
+
+* `SpanContext` is valid.
+* `SpanContext` is sampled.
+* `SpanContext` contains non-empty extracted `Baggage`.
+
+Otherwise, the operation MUST return null or empty value.
 
 ```java
-if (!extractedSpanContext.isValid() && extractedBaggage.isEmpty()) {
+if (!extractedSpanContext.isValid()
+    && !extractedSpanContext.isSampled()
+    && extractedBaggage.isEmpty()) {
   return null;
 }
 
@@ -210,6 +216,10 @@ Errors MAY be raised if either the `Format` is not recognized
 or no value could be extracted, depending on the specific OpenTracing Language API
 (e.g. Go and Python do, but Java may not).
 
+Note: Invalid but sampled `SpanContext` instances are returned as a way to support
+`jaeger-debug-id` [headers](https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger-client-java#via-http-headers),
+which are used to force propagation of debug information.
+
 ## Close
 
 OPTIONAL operation. If this operation is implemented for a specific OpenTracing language,