diff --git a/contrib/fast-import/git-p4 b/contrib/fast-import/git-p4
index 725af75995c..3c44524cdf0 100755
--- a/contrib/fast-import/git-p4
+++ b/contrib/fast-import/git-p4
@@ -1694,7 +1694,7 @@ class P4Sync(Command):
 
                 changes.sort()
             else:
-                if not self.p4BranchesInGit:
+                if not isinstance(self, P4Clone) and not self.p4BranchesInGit:
                     die("No remote p4 branches.  Perhaps you never did \"git p4 clone\" in here.");
                 if self.verbose:
                     print "Getting p4 changes for %s...%s" % (', '.join(self.depotPaths),