diff --git a/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx b/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx
index 550b733186..62cbfd0665 100644
--- a/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx
+++ b/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx
@@ -149,6 +149,19 @@ cdef bint _is_host_cpu(object dl_device):
     return (dl_type == DLDeviceType.kDLCPU) and (dl_id == 0)
 
 
+cdef void _validate_and_use_stream(object stream, c_dpctl.SyclQueue self_queue) except *:
+    if (stream is None or stream == self_queue):
+        pass
+    else:
+        if not isinstance(stream, dpctl.SyclQueue):
+            raise TypeError(
+                "stream argument type was expected to be dpctl.SyclQueue,"
+                f" got {type(stream)} instead"
+            )
+        ev = self_queue.submit_barrier()
+        stream.submit_barrier(dependent_events=[ev])
+
+
 cdef class usm_ndarray:
     """ usm_ndarray(shape, dtype=None, strides=None, buffer="device", \
            offset=0, order="C", buffer_ctor_kwargs=dict(), \
@@ -1025,12 +1038,7 @@ cdef class usm_ndarray:
         cdef c_dpmem._Memory arr_buf
         d = Device.create_device(target_device)
 
-        if (stream is None or not isinstance(stream, dpctl.SyclQueue) or
-            stream == self.sycl_queue):
-            pass
-        else:
-            ev = self.sycl_queue.submit_barrier()
-            stream.submit_barrier(dependent_events=[ev])
+        _validate_and_use_stream(stream, self.sycl_queue)
 
         if (d.sycl_context == self.sycl_context):
             arr_buf = <c_dpmem._Memory> self.usm_data
@@ -1203,12 +1211,7 @@ cdef class usm_ndarray:
             # legacy path for DLManagedTensor
             # copy kwarg ignored because copy flag can't be set
             _caps = c_dlpack.to_dlpack_capsule(self)
-            if (stream is None or type(stream) is not dpctl.SyclQueue or
-                stream == self.sycl_queue):
-                pass
-            else:
-                ev = self.sycl_queue.submit_barrier()
-                stream.submit_barrier(dependent_events=[ev])
+            _validate_and_use_stream(stream, self.sycl_queue)
             return _caps
         else:
             if not isinstance(max_version, tuple) or len(max_version) != 2:
@@ -1250,12 +1253,7 @@ cdef class usm_ndarray:
                     copy = False
                 # TODO: strategy for handling stream on different device from dl_device
                 if copy:
-                    if (stream is None or type(stream) is not dpctl.SyclQueue or
-                        stream == self.sycl_queue):
-                        pass
-                    else:
-                        ev = self.sycl_queue.submit_barrier()
-                        stream.submit_barrier(dependent_events=[ev])
+                    _validate_and_use_stream(stream, self.sycl_queue)
                     nbytes = self.usm_data.nbytes
                     copy_buffer = type(self.usm_data)(
                         nbytes, queue=self.sycl_queue
@@ -1272,22 +1270,12 @@ cdef class usm_ndarray:
                     _caps = c_dlpack.to_dlpack_versioned_capsule(_copied_arr, copy)
                 else:
                     _caps = c_dlpack.to_dlpack_versioned_capsule(self, copy)
-                    if (stream is None or type(stream) is not dpctl.SyclQueue or
-                        stream == self.sycl_queue):
-                        pass
-                    else:
-                        ev = self.sycl_queue.submit_barrier()
-                        stream.submit_barrier(dependent_events=[ev])
+                    _validate_and_use_stream(stream, self.sycl_queue)
                 return _caps
             else:
                 # legacy path for DLManagedTensor
                 _caps = c_dlpack.to_dlpack_capsule(self)
-                if (stream is None or type(stream) is not dpctl.SyclQueue or
-                    stream == self.sycl_queue):
-                    pass
-                else:
-                    ev = self.sycl_queue.submit_barrier()
-                    stream.submit_barrier(dependent_events=[ev])
+                _validate_and_use_stream(stream, self.sycl_queue)
                 return _caps
 
     def __dlpack_device__(self):
@@ -1555,17 +1543,17 @@ cdef class usm_ndarray:
     def __array__(self, dtype=None, /, *, copy=None):
         """NumPy's array protocol method to disallow implicit conversion.
 
-	Without this definition, `numpy.asarray(usm_ar)` converts
-	usm_ndarray instance into NumPy array with data type `object`
-	and every element being 0d usm_ndarray.
+        Without this definition, `numpy.asarray(usm_ar)` converts
+        usm_ndarray instance into NumPy array with data type `object`
+        and every element being 0d usm_ndarray.
 
         https://github.com/IntelPython/dpctl/pull/1384#issuecomment-1707212972
-	"""
+        """
         raise TypeError(
             "Implicit conversion to a NumPy array is not allowed. "
-	    "Use `dpctl.tensor.asnumpy` to copy data from this "
-	    "`dpctl.tensor.usm_ndarray` instance to NumPy array"
-	)
+            "Use `dpctl.tensor.asnumpy` to copy data from this "
+            "`dpctl.tensor.usm_ndarray` instance to NumPy array"
+        )
 
 
 cdef usm_ndarray _real_view(usm_ndarray ary):
diff --git a/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py b/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py
index ccfc655bfc..81b398ab9b 100644
--- a/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py
+++ b/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py
@@ -1380,6 +1380,30 @@ def test_to_device():
             assert Y.sycl_device == dev
 
 
+def test_to_device_stream_validation():
+    try:
+        X = dpt.usm_ndarray(1, "f4")
+    except dpctl.SyclDeviceCreationError:
+        pytest.skip("No SYCL devices available")
+    # invalid type of stream keyword
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        X.to_device(X.sycl_queue, stream=dict())
+    # stream is keyword-only arg
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        X.to_device(X.sycl_queue, X.sycl_queue)
+
+
+def test_to_device_stream_use():
+    try:
+        X = dpt.usm_ndarray(1, "f4")
+    except dpctl.SyclDeviceCreationError:
+        pytest.skip("No SYCL devices available")
+    q1 = dpctl.SyclQueue(
+        X.sycl_context, X.sycl_device, property="enable_profiling"
+    )
+    X.to_device(q1, stream=q1)
+
+
 def test_to_device_migration():
     q1 = get_queue_or_skip()  # two distinct copies of default-constructed queue
     q2 = get_queue_or_skip()