diff --git a/lib/bitbucket/representation/base.rb b/lib/bitbucket/representation/base.rb
index 94adaacc9b5..fd622d333da 100644
--- a/lib/bitbucket/representation/base.rb
+++ b/lib/bitbucket/representation/base.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ module Bitbucket
         @raw = raw
       end
 
+      def user_representation(raw)
+        User.new(raw)
+      end
+
       def self.decorate(entries)
         entries.map { |entry| new(entry)}
       end
diff --git a/lib/bitbucket/representation/comment.rb b/lib/bitbucket/representation/comment.rb
index 94bc18cbfab..bc40f891cd3 100644
--- a/lib/bitbucket/representation/comment.rb
+++ b/lib/bitbucket/representation/comment.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ module Bitbucket
   module Representation
     class Comment < Representation::Base
       def author
-        user.fetch('username', 'Anonymous')
+        user_representation(user)
       end
 
       def note
diff --git a/lib/bitbucket/representation/issue.rb b/lib/bitbucket/representation/issue.rb
index 6c8e9a4c244..90adfa3331a 100644
--- a/lib/bitbucket/representation/issue.rb
+++ b/lib/bitbucket/representation/issue.rb
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ module Bitbucket
       end
 
       def author
-        raw.dig('reporter', 'username') || 'Anonymous'
+        user_representation(raw.fetch('reporter', {}))
       end
 
       def description
diff --git a/lib/bitbucket/representation/pull_request.rb b/lib/bitbucket/representation/pull_request.rb
index e7b1f99e9a6..96992003d24 100644
--- a/lib/bitbucket/representation/pull_request.rb
+++ b/lib/bitbucket/representation/pull_request.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ module Bitbucket
   module Representation
     class PullRequest < Representation::Base
       def author
-        raw.fetch('author', {}).fetch('username', 'Anonymous')
+        user_representation(raw.fetch('author', {}))
       end
 
       def description
diff --git a/lib/bitbucket/representation/user.rb b/lib/bitbucket/representation/user.rb
index ba6b7667b49..6025a9f0653 100644
--- a/lib/bitbucket/representation/user.rb
+++ b/lib/bitbucket/representation/user.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@ module Bitbucket
   module Representation
     class User < Representation::Base
       def username
-        raw['username']
+        raw['username'] || 'Anonymous'
+      end
+
+      def uuid
+        raw['uuid']
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/bitbucket_import/importer.rb b/lib/gitlab/bitbucket_import/importer.rb
index a0a17333185..519a109c0c8 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/bitbucket_import/importer.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/bitbucket_import/importer.rb
@@ -24,15 +24,23 @@ module Gitlab
 
       private
 
-      def gitlab_user_id(project, bitbucket_id)
-        if bitbucket_id
-          user = User.joins(:identities).find_by("identities.extern_uid = ? AND identities.provider = 'bitbucket'", bitbucket_id.to_s)
+      def gitlab_user_id(project, user)
+        if user.uuid
+          user = find_user_by_uuid(user.uuid)
           (user && user.id) || project.creator_id
         else
           project.creator_id
         end
       end
 
+      def find_user_by_uuid(uuid)
+        User.joins(:identities).find_by("identities.extern_uid = ? AND identities.provider = 'bitbucket'", uuid)
+      end
+
+      def existing_gitlab_user?(user)
+        user.uuid && find_user_by_uuid(user.uuid)
+      end
+
       def repo
         @repo ||= client.repo(project.import_source)
       end
@@ -43,7 +51,8 @@ module Gitlab
         create_labels
 
         client.issues(repo).each do |issue|
-          description = @formatter.author_line(issue.author)
+          description = ''
+          description += @formatter.author_line(issue.author.username) unless existing_gitlab_user?(issue.author)
           description += issue.description
 
           label_name = issue.kind
@@ -69,7 +78,8 @@ module Gitlab
               # we do this check.
               next unless comment.note.present?
 
-              note = @formatter.author_line(comment.author)
+              note = ''
+              note += @formatter.author_line(comment.author.username) unless existing_gitlab_user?(comment.author)
               note += comment.note
 
               issue.notes.create!(
@@ -97,7 +107,8 @@ module Gitlab
 
         pull_requests.each do |pull_request|
           begin
-            description = @formatter.author_line(pull_request.author)
+            description = ''
+            description += @formatter.author_line(pull_request.author.username) unless existing_gitlab_user?(pull_request.author)
             description += pull_request.description
 
             merge_request = project.merge_requests.create(