diff --git a/modules/lang-painless/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/StaticTest.java b/modules/lang-painless/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/StaticTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4a4f27b8f21d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/lang-painless/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/StaticTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you 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.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.painless;
+
+public class StaticTest {
+    public static int staticAddIntsTest(int x, int y) {
+        return x + y;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/modules/lang-painless/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/lookup/PainlessLookupBuilder.java b/modules/lang-painless/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/lookup/PainlessLookupBuilder.java
index b3bc8580b38f3..46bcaf3f1b263 100644
--- a/modules/lang-painless/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/lookup/PainlessLookupBuilder.java
+++ b/modules/lang-painless/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/lookup/PainlessLookupBuilder.java
@@ -691,13 +691,6 @@ public void addImportedPainlessMethod(Class<?> targetClass, String methodName, C
                     "invalid imported method name [" + methodName + "] for target class [" + targetCanonicalClassName + "].");
         }
 
-        PainlessClassBuilder painlessClassBuilder = classesToPainlessClassBuilders.get(targetClass);
-
-        if (painlessClassBuilder == null) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("target class [" + targetCanonicalClassName + "] not found for imported method " +
-                    "[[" + targetCanonicalClassName + "], [" + methodName + "], " + typesToCanonicalTypeNames(typeParameters) + "]");
-        }
-
         int typeParametersSize = typeParameters.size();
         List<Class<?>> javaTypeParameters = new ArrayList<>(typeParametersSize);
 
diff --git a/modules/lang-painless/src/main/resources/org/elasticsearch/painless/spi/org.elasticsearch.txt b/modules/lang-painless/src/main/resources/org/elasticsearch/painless/spi/org.elasticsearch.txt
index 7ac13c038765b..9bb7ea94826bd 100644
--- a/modules/lang-painless/src/main/resources/org/elasticsearch/painless/spi/org.elasticsearch.txt
+++ b/modules/lang-painless/src/main/resources/org/elasticsearch/painless/spi/org.elasticsearch.txt
@@ -261,6 +261,7 @@ class org.elasticsearch.painless.FeatureTest no_import {
 
 # for testing
 static_import {
+  int staticAddIntsTest(int, int) from_class org.elasticsearch.painless.StaticTest
   float staticAddFloatsTest(float, float) from_class org.elasticsearch.painless.FeatureTest
   int testAddWithState(int, int, int, double) bound_to org.elasticsearch.painless.BindingTest
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/lang-painless/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/BasicAPITests.java b/modules/lang-painless/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/BasicAPITests.java
index c5cc723ca8415..6a7758251176b 100644
--- a/modules/lang-painless/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/BasicAPITests.java
+++ b/modules/lang-painless/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/painless/BasicAPITests.java
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ public void testNoSemicolon() {
     }
 
     public void testStatic() {
+        assertEquals(10, exec("staticAddIntsTest(7, 3)"));
         assertEquals(15.5f, exec("staticAddFloatsTest(6.5f, 9.0f)"));
     }
 }