diff --git a/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_user b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_user
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..51896647fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_user
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Copyright 2018 Google, Inc. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+FROM gcr.io/google-appengine/debian9@sha256:1d6a9a6d106bd795098f60f4abb7083626354fa6735e81743c7f8cfca11259f0
+USER testuser:testgroup
+
diff --git a/pkg/commands/user.go b/pkg/commands/user.go
index c024f38f0a..a8cfb2774c 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/user.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/user.go
@@ -31,10 +31,6 @@ type UserCommand struct {
 	cmd *instructions.UserCommand
 }
 
-func (r *UserCommand) RequiresUnpackedFS() bool {
-	return true
-}
-
 func (r *UserCommand) ExecuteCommand(config *v1.Config, buildArgs *dockerfile.BuildArgs) error {
 	logrus.Info("cmd: USER")
 	u := r.cmd.User
@@ -52,11 +48,6 @@ func (r *UserCommand) ExecuteCommand(config *v1.Config, buildArgs *dockerfile.Bu
 		}
 	}
 
-	_, _, err = util.GetUserFromUsername(userStr, groupStr)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
 	if groupStr != "" {
 		userStr = userStr + ":" + groupStr
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/commands/user_test.go b/pkg/commands/user_test.go
index 6770d127bb..343a7bed43 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/user_test.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/user_test.go
@@ -28,57 +28,42 @@ import (
 var userTests = []struct {
 	user        string
 	expectedUID string
-	shouldError bool
 }{
 	{
 		user:        "root",
 		expectedUID: "root",
-		shouldError: false,
 	},
 	{
 		user:        "0",
 		expectedUID: "0",
-		shouldError: false,
 	},
 	{
 		user:        "fakeUser",
-		expectedUID: "",
-		shouldError: true,
+		expectedUID: "fakeUser",
 	},
 	{
 		user:        "root:root",
 		expectedUID: "root:root",
-		shouldError: false,
 	},
 	{
 		user:        "0:root",
 		expectedUID: "0:root",
-		shouldError: false,
 	},
 	{
 		user:        "root:0",
 		expectedUID: "root:0",
-		shouldError: false,
 	},
 	{
 		user:        "0:0",
 		expectedUID: "0:0",
-		shouldError: false,
-	},
-	{
-		user:        "root:fakeGroup",
-		expectedUID: "",
-		shouldError: true,
 	},
 	{
 		user:        "$envuser",
 		expectedUID: "root",
-		shouldError: false,
 	},
 	{
 		user:        "root:$envgroup",
 		expectedUID: "root:root",
-		shouldError: false,
 	},
 }
 
@@ -97,6 +82,6 @@ func TestUpdateUser(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		buildArgs := dockerfile.NewBuildArgs([]string{})
 		err := cmd.ExecuteCommand(cfg, buildArgs)
-		testutil.CheckErrorAndDeepEqual(t, test.shouldError, err, test.expectedUID, cfg.User)
+		testutil.CheckErrorAndDeepEqual(t, false, err, test.expectedUID, cfg.User)
 	}
 }