diff --git a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention.java b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention.java
index 3a646fc1d7ce..c2624aa941fd 100644
--- a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention.java
+++ b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention.java
@@ -140,10 +140,11 @@ public class PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention extends BaseIntentionAction
     int paramCount = 0;
     boolean isUnicode = false;
     final PyClassTypeImpl unicodeType = PyBuiltinCache.getInstance(element).getObjectType("unicode");
+
     for (PyExpression expression : getSimpleExpressions((PyBinaryExpression) element)) {
       if (expression instanceof PyStringLiteralExpression) {
         final PyType type = context.getType(expression);
-        if (PyTypeChecker.match(unicodeType, type, context)) {
+        if (type != null && type.equals(unicodeType)) {
           isUnicode = true;
         }
         if (!quotesDetected) {
diff --git a/python/testData/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest/py3Unicode.py b/python/testData/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest/py3Unicode.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e038bae9dc85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/testData/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest/py3Unicode.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+
+string = "qwer<caret>" + "asdf"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/python/testData/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest/py3Unicode_after.py b/python/testData/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest/py3Unicode_after.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..aa3a037f8384
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/testData/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest/py3Unicode_after.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+
+string = "qwerasdf"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest.java b/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest.java
index a16d15650c3e..39c678e24d06 100644
--- a/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest.java
+++ b/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest.java
@@ -73,4 +73,8 @@ public class PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntentionTest extends PyIntentionTestC
   public void testPy3() {   //PY-4706
     doTest(PyBundle.message("INTN.replace.plus.with.str.format"), LanguageLevel.PYTHON33);
   }
+
+  public void testPy3Unicode() {
+    doTest(PyBundle.message("INTN.replace.plus.with.str.format"), LanguageLevel.PYTHON33);
+  }
 }
\ No newline at end of file