diff --git a/.github/workflows/upstream.yml b/.github/workflows/upstream.yml
index f0fa64186..890e56758 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/upstream.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/upstream.yml
@@ -9,13 +9,30 @@ jobs:
   versioncheck:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     if: github.repository_owner == 'daviddrysdale'
+    permissions:
+      issues: write
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@ac593985615ec2ede58e132d2e21d2b1cbd6127c # v3
       - uses: actions/setup-python@d27e3f3d7c64b4bbf8e4abfb9b63b83e846e0435 # v4
         with:
           python-version: 3
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          python -m pip install requests
+
       - name: Check upstream version
         run: |
-          pip install -U pip
-          pip install requests
-          python3 tools/python/checkupstreamversion.py
+          python tools/python/checkupstreamversion.py
+
+      - name: Create update issue
+        if: failure()
+        uses: actions/github-script@d7906e4ad0b1822421a7e6a35d5ca353c962f410  # v6.4.1
+        with:
+          # language=JavaScript
+          script: |
+            await github.rest.issues.create({
+              owner: "daviddrysdale",
+              repo: "python-phonenumbers",
+              title: `[bot]: New upstream version: ${process.env.LIBPHONENUMBER_UPSTREAM_VERSION}`,
+            })
diff --git a/tools/python/checkupstreamversion.py b/tools/python/checkupstreamversion.py
index e517ffa44..79f1603b8 100755
--- a/tools/python/checkupstreamversion.py
+++ b/tools/python/checkupstreamversion.py
@@ -44,4 +44,5 @@
     print(
         f"Local version {local_version} does not match upstream version {upstream_version}"
     )
+    os.environ["LIBPHONENUMBER_UPSTREAM_VERSION"] = upstream_version
     raise SystemExit(1)