diff --git a/lib/api/projects.rb b/lib/api/projects.rb
index d35ec73c8c1..5284d1d2305 100644
--- a/lib/api/projects.rb
+++ b/lib/api/projects.rb
@@ -199,18 +199,21 @@ module API
       post 'fork/:id' do
         attrs = {}
         namespace_id = params[:namespace]
+
         if namespace_id.present?
           namespace = Namespace.find_by(id: namespace_id) || Namespace.find_by_path_or_name(namespace_id)
-          if namespace.nil?
-            not_found!('Target Namespace')
-          end
+
+          not_found!('Target Namespace') unless namespace
           authorize! :create_projects, namespace
+
           attrs[:namespace] = namespace
         end
+
         @forked_project =
           ::Projects::ForkService.new(user_project,
                                       current_user,
                                       attrs).execute
+
         if @forked_project.errors.any?
           conflict!(@forked_project.errors.messages)
         else
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/fork_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/fork_spec.rb
index 97f17efc053..91b69384aad 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/fork_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/fork_spec.rb
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ describe API::API, api: true  do
     context 'when authenticated' do
       it 'forks if user has sufficient access to project' do
         post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", user2)
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
         expect(json_response['name']).to eq(project.name)
         expect(json_response['path']).to eq(project.path)
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ describe API::API, api: true  do
 
       it 'forks if user is admin' do
         post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", admin)
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
         expect(json_response['name']).to eq(project.name)
         expect(json_response['path']).to eq(project.path)
@@ -48,12 +50,14 @@ describe API::API, api: true  do
 
       it 'fails on missing project access for the project to fork' do
         post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", user3)
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(404)
         expect(json_response['message']).to eq('404 Project Not Found')
       end
 
       it 'fails if forked project exists in the user namespace' do
         post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", user)
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(409)
         expect(json_response['message']['name']).to eq(['has already been taken'])
         expect(json_response['message']['path']).to eq(['has already been taken'])
@@ -61,52 +65,61 @@ describe API::API, api: true  do
 
       it 'fails if project to fork from does not exist' do
         post api('/projects/fork/424242', user)
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(404)
         expect(json_response['message']).to eq('404 Project Not Found')
       end
 
       it 'forks with explicit own user namespace id' do
-        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}?namespace=#{user2.namespace.id}", user2)
+        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", user2), namespace: user2.namespace.id
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
         expect(json_response['owner']['id']).to eq(user2.id)
       end
 
       it 'forks with explicit own user name as namespace' do
-        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}?namespace=#{user2.username}", user2)
+        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", user2), namespace: user2.username
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
         expect(json_response['owner']['id']).to eq(user2.id)
       end
 
       it 'forks to another user when admin' do
-        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}?namespace=#{user2.username}", admin)
+        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", admin), namespace: user2.username
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
         expect(json_response['owner']['id']).to eq(user2.id)
       end
 
       it 'fails if trying to fork to another user when not admin' do
-        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}?namespace=#{admin.namespace.id}", user2)
+        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", user2), namespace: admin.namespace.id
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(403)
       end
 
       it 'fails if trying to fork to non-existent namespace' do
-        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}?namespace=42424242", user2)
+        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", user2), namespace: 42424242
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(404)
         expect(json_response['message']).to eq('404 Target Namespace Not Found')
       end
 
       it 'forks to owned group' do
-        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}?namespace=#{group2.name}", user2)
+        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", user2), namespace: group2.name
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
         expect(json_response['namespace']['name']).to eq(group2.name)
       end
 
       it 'fails to fork to not owned group' do
-        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}?namespace=#{group.name}", user2)
+        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", user2), namespace: group.name
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(403)
       end
 
       it 'forks to not owned group when admin' do
-        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}?namespace=#{group.name}", admin)
+        post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}", admin), namespace: group.name
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
         expect(json_response['namespace']['name']).to eq(group.name)
       end
@@ -115,6 +128,7 @@ describe API::API, api: true  do
     context 'when unauthenticated' do
       it 'returns authentication error' do
         post api("/projects/fork/#{project.id}")
+
         expect(response).to have_http_status(401)
         expect(json_response['message']).to eq('401 Unauthorized')
       end