diff --git a/command/import.go b/command/import.go
index d17f388385..37cf708f4d 100644
--- a/command/import.go
+++ b/command/import.go
@@ -16,6 +16,14 @@ type ImportCommand struct {
 }
 
 func (c *ImportCommand) Run(args []string) int {
+	// Get the pwd since its our default -config flag value
+	pwd, err := os.Getwd()
+	if err != nil {
+		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Error getting pwd: %s", err))
+		return 1
+	}
+
+	var configPath string
 	args = c.Meta.process(args, true)
 
 	cmdFlags := c.Meta.flagSet("import")
@@ -23,6 +31,7 @@ func (c *ImportCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 	cmdFlags.StringVar(&c.Meta.statePath, "state", DefaultStateFilename, "path")
 	cmdFlags.StringVar(&c.Meta.stateOutPath, "state-out", "", "path")
 	cmdFlags.StringVar(&c.Meta.backupPath, "backup", "", "path")
+	cmdFlags.StringVar(&configPath, "config", pwd, "path")
 	cmdFlags.Usage = func() { c.Ui.Error(c.Help()) }
 	if err := cmdFlags.Parse(args); err != nil {
 		return 1
@@ -35,15 +44,9 @@ func (c *ImportCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 		return 1
 	}
 
-	pwd, err := os.Getwd()
-	if err != nil {
-		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Error getting pwd: %s", err))
-		return 1
-	}
-
 	// Build the context based on the arguments given
 	ctx, _, err := c.Context(contextOpts{
-		Path:        pwd,
+		Path:        configPath,
 		PathEmptyOk: true,
 		StatePath:   c.Meta.statePath,
 		Parallelism: c.Meta.parallelism,
@@ -120,6 +123,11 @@ Options:
                       modifying. Defaults to the "-state-out" path with
                       ".backup" extension. Set to "-" to disable backup.
 
+  -config=path        Path to a directory of Terraform configuration files
+                      to use to configure the provider. Defaults to pwd.
+                      If no config files are present, they must be provided
+                      via the input prompts or env vars.
+
   -input=true         Ask for input for variables if not directly set.
 
   -no-color           If specified, output won't contain any color.
diff --git a/command/import_test.go b/command/import_test.go
index 3193880575..9e5129b547 100644
--- a/command/import_test.go
+++ b/command/import_test.go
@@ -102,6 +102,63 @@ func TestImport_providerConfig(t *testing.T) {
 	testStateOutput(t, statePath, testImportStr)
 }
 
+func TestImport_providerConfigDisable(t *testing.T) {
+	defer testChdir(t, testFixturePath("import-provider"))()
+
+	statePath := testTempFile(t)
+
+	p := testProvider()
+	ui := new(cli.MockUi)
+	c := &ImportCommand{
+		Meta: Meta{
+			ContextOpts: testCtxConfig(p),
+			Ui:          ui,
+		},
+	}
+
+	p.ImportStateFn = nil
+	p.ImportStateReturn = []*terraform.InstanceState{
+		&terraform.InstanceState{
+			ID: "yay",
+			Ephemeral: terraform.EphemeralState{
+				Type: "test_instance",
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	configured := false
+	p.ConfigureFn = func(c *terraform.ResourceConfig) error {
+		configured = true
+
+		if v, ok := c.Get("foo"); ok {
+			return fmt.Errorf("bad value: %#v", v)
+		}
+
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	args := []string{
+		"-state", statePath,
+		"-config", "",
+		"test_instance.foo",
+		"bar",
+	}
+	if code := c.Run(args); code != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %d\n\n%s", code, ui.ErrorWriter.String())
+	}
+
+	// Verify that we were called
+	if !configured {
+		t.Fatal("Configure should be called")
+	}
+
+	if !p.ImportStateCalled {
+		t.Fatal("ImportState should be called")
+	}
+
+	testStateOutput(t, statePath, testImportStr)
+}
+
 /*
 func TestRefresh_badState(t *testing.T) {
 	p := testProvider()
diff --git a/website/source/docs/commands/import.html.md b/website/source/docs/commands/import.html.md
index 470bfdeecf..4f717b9658 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/commands/import.html.md
+++ b/website/source/docs/commands/import.html.md
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@ The command-line flags are all optional. The list of available flags are:
   the `-state-out` path with the ".backup" extension. Set to "-" to disable
   backups.
 
+* `-config=path` - Path to directory of Terraform configuration files that
+  configure the provider for import. This defaults to your working directory.
+  If this directory contains no Terraform configuration files, the provider
+  must be configured via manual input or environmental variables.
+
 * `-input=true` - Whether to ask for input for provider configuration.
 
 * `-state=path` - The path to read and save state files (unless state-out is
@@ -46,12 +51,35 @@ The command-line flags are all optional. The list of available flags are:
 
 ## Provider Configuration
 
-To access the provider that the resource is being imported from, Terraform
-will ask you for access credentials. If you don't want to be asked for input,
-verify that all environment variables for your provider are set.
+Terraform will attempt to load configuration files that configure the
+provider being used for import. If no configuration files are present or
+no configuration for that specific provider is present, Terraform will
+prompt you for access credentials. You may also specify environmental variables
+to configure the provider.
 
-The import command cannot read provider configuration from a Terraform
-configuration file.
+The only limitation Terraform has when reading the configuration files
+is that the import provider configurations must not depend on non-variable
+inputs. For example, a provider configuration cannot depend on a data
+source.
+
+As a working example, if you're importing AWS resources and you have a
+configuration file with the contents below, then Terraform will configure
+the AWS provider with this file.
+
+```
+variable "access_key" {}
+variable "secret_key" {}
+
+provider "aws" {
+  access_key = "${var.access_key}"
+  secret_key = "${var.secret_key}"
+}
+```
+
+You can force Terraform to explicitly not load your configuration by
+specifying `-config=""` (empty string). This is useful in situations where
+you want to manually configure the provider because your configuration
+may not be valid.
 
 ## Example: AWS Instance
 
diff --git a/website/source/docs/import/usage.html.md b/website/source/docs/import/usage.html.md
index 4eb3f8415f..9ca563022c 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/import/usage.html.md
+++ b/website/source/docs/import/usage.html.md
@@ -22,9 +22,6 @@ $ terraform import aws_instance.bar i-abcd1234
 ...
 ```
 
-~> **Note:** In order to import resources, the provider should be configured with environment variables.
-We currently do not support passing credentials directly to the provider.
-
 The above command imports an AWS instance with the given ID to the
 address `aws_instance.bar`. You can also import resources into modules.
 See the [resource addressing](/docs/internals/resource-addressing.html)