diff --git a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/PyTypingTypeProvider.java b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/PyTypingTypeProvider.java
index 3d9a6c001553..cdd550e018fc 100644
--- a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/PyTypingTypeProvider.java
+++ b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/PyTypingTypeProvider.java
@@ -176,14 +176,16 @@ public class PyTypingTypeProvider extends PyTypeProviderBase {
   public PyType getReferenceType(@NotNull PsiElement referenceTarget, TypeEvalContext context, @Nullable PsiElement anchor) {
     if (referenceTarget instanceof PyTargetExpression) {
       final PyTargetExpression target = (PyTargetExpression)referenceTarget;
-      // XXX: Requires switching from stub to AST
-      final PyAnnotation annotation = target.getAnnotation();
-      if (annotation != null) {
-        final PyExpression value = annotation.getValue();
-        if (value != null) {
-          return getType(value, new Context(context));
+      if (context.maySwitchToAST(target)) {
+        // XXX: Requires switching from stub to AST
+        final PyAnnotation annotation = target.getAnnotation();
+        if (annotation != null) {
+          final PyExpression value = annotation.getValue();
+          if (value != null) {
+            return getType(value, new Context(context));
+          }
+          return null;
         }
-        return null;
       }
       final String comment = target.getTypeCommentAnnotation();
       if (comment != null) {
diff --git a/python/testData/stubs/variableAnnotationsInExternalFiles/__init__.py b/python/testData/stubs/variableAnnotationsInExternalFiles/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e69de29bb2d1
diff --git a/python/testData/stubs/variableAnnotationsInExternalFiles/lib.py b/python/testData/stubs/variableAnnotationsInExternalFiles/lib.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..80b60df6b81c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/testData/stubs/variableAnnotationsInExternalFiles/lib.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+attr: int = ...
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/python/testData/stubs/variableAnnotationsInExternalFiles/main.py b/python/testData/stubs/variableAnnotationsInExternalFiles/main.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..662608fcd7b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/testData/stubs/variableAnnotationsInExternalFiles/main.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+from .lib import attr
+
+x = attr
diff --git a/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/PyStubsTest.java b/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/PyStubsTest.java
index c4bddf13d69a..a03029b3ee47 100644
--- a/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/PyStubsTest.java
+++ b/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/PyStubsTest.java
@@ -596,4 +596,17 @@ public class PyStubsTest extends PyTestCase {
     assertNotParsed(file1);
     assertNotParsed(file2);
   }
+
+  public void testVariableAnnotationsInExternalFiles() {
+    runWithLanguageLevel(LanguageLevel.PYTHON36, () -> {
+      final PyFile current = getTestFile(getTestName(true) + "/main.py");
+      final PyFile external = getTestFile(getTestName(true) + "/lib.py");
+      final PyTargetExpression attr = current.findTopLevelAttribute("x");
+      assertNotNull(attr);
+      final TypeEvalContext context = TypeEvalContext.codeAnalysis(myFixture.getProject(), current);
+      // Will turn into concrete type when we start saving annotations in stubs 
+      assertNull(context.getType(attr));
+      assertNotParsed(external);
+    });
+  }
 }