diff --git a/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_workdir_with_user b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_workdir_with_user
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f82b306e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/dockerfiles/Dockerfile_test_workdir_with_user
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+FROM debian:9.11
+RUN groupadd -g 10000 bar
+RUN useradd -c "Foo user" -u 10000 -g 10000 -m foo
+
+
+# no passwd file
+FROM scratch
+
+# without a USER Set
+WORKDIR /workdir/wo/user
+
+USER 9999
+WORKDIR /workdir/w/uid
+
+USER 9999:9999
+WORKDIR /workdir/w/uid_gid
+
+USER 0
+WORKDIR /workdir/w/root_uid
+
+USER root
+WORKDIR /workdir/w/root_username
+
+# with passwd file
+COPY --from=0 /etc/passwd /etc/passwd
+COPY --from=0 /etc/group /etc/group
+
+USER foo
+WORKDIR /workdir/w/foo_username
+
+USER foo:10000
+WORKDIR /workdir/w/foo_username_gid
+
+USER 10000
+WORKDIR /workdir/w/foo_uid
+
+USER 10000:10000
+WORKDIR /workdir/w/foo_uid_gid
+
+USER 10000:bar
+WORKDIR /workdir/w/foo_uid_groupname
diff --git a/pkg/commands/workdir.go b/pkg/commands/workdir.go
index 4a95424ec..eefa978b8 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/workdir.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/workdir.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 
 	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/kaniko/pkg/dockerfile"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
 	"github.com/GoogleContainerTools/kaniko/pkg/util"
 	v1 "github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/v1"
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ type WorkdirCommand struct {
 }
 
 // For testing
-var mkdir = os.MkdirAll
+var mkdirAllWithPermissions = util.MkdirAllWithPermissions
 
 func (w *WorkdirCommand) ExecuteCommand(config *v1.Config, buildArgs *dockerfile.BuildArgs) error {
 	logrus.Info("Cmd: workdir")
@@ -59,9 +60,21 @@ func (w *WorkdirCommand) ExecuteCommand(config *v1.Config, buildArgs *dockerfile
 	// Only create and snapshot the dir if it didn't exist already
 	w.snapshotFiles = []string{}
 	if _, err := os.Stat(config.WorkingDir); os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		logrus.Infof("Creating directory %s", config.WorkingDir)
+		uid, gid := int64(-1), int64(-1)
+
+		if config.User != "" {
+			logrus.Debugf("Fetching uid and gid for USER '%s'", config.User)
+			uid, gid, err = util.GetUserGroup(config.User, replacementEnvs)
+			if err != nil {
+				return errors.Wrapf(err, "identifying uid and gid for user %s", config.User)
+			}
+		}
+
+		logrus.Infof("Creating directory %s with uid %d and gid %d", config.WorkingDir, uid, gid)
 		w.snapshotFiles = append(w.snapshotFiles, config.WorkingDir)
-		return mkdir(config.WorkingDir, 0755)
+		if err := mkdirAllWithPermissions(config.WorkingDir, 0755, uid, gid); err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrapf(err, "creating workdir %s", config.WorkingDir)
+		}
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/commands/workdir_test.go b/pkg/commands/workdir_test.go
index c347c7062..f82f107a7 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/workdir_test.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/workdir_test.go
@@ -83,17 +83,17 @@ var workdirTests = []struct {
 }
 
 // For testing
-func mockDir(p string, fi os.FileMode) error {
+func mockDir(path string, mode os.FileMode, uid, gid int64) error {
 	return nil
 }
 func TestWorkdirCommand(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Mock out mkdir for testing.
-	oldMkdir := mkdir
-	mkdir = mockDir
+	oldMkdir := mkdirAllWithPermissions
+	mkdirAllWithPermissions = mockDir
 
 	defer func() {
-		mkdir = oldMkdir
+		mkdirAllWithPermissions = oldMkdir
 	}()
 
 	cfg := &v1.Config{
diff --git a/pkg/util/command_util.go b/pkg/util/command_util.go
index 728f89dc4..2f09fda65 100644
--- a/pkg/util/command_util.go
+++ b/pkg/util/command_util.go
@@ -442,8 +442,8 @@ func LookupUser(userStr string) (*user.User, error) {
 	userObj, err := user.Lookup(userStr)
 	if err != nil {
 		unknownUserErr := new(user.UnknownUserError)
-		// only return if it's not an unknown user error
-		if !errors.As(err, unknownUserErr) {
+		// only return if it's not an unknown user error or the passwd file does not exist
+		if !errors.As(err, unknownUserErr) && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
diff --git a/pkg/util/fs_util.go b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
index d29fb43b4..b13882eb5 100644
--- a/pkg/util/fs_util.go
+++ b/pkg/util/fs_util.go
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ func ExtractFile(dest string, hdr *tar.Header, tr io.Reader) error {
 		currFile.Close()
 	case tar.TypeDir:
 		logrus.Tracef("Creating dir %s", path)
-		if err := mkdirAllWithPermissions(path, mode, int64(uid), int64(gid)); err != nil {
+		if err := MkdirAllWithPermissions(path, mode, int64(uid), int64(gid)); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 
@@ -663,7 +663,7 @@ func CopyDir(src, dest string, context FileContext, uid, gid int64) ([]string, e
 
 			mode := fi.Mode()
 			uid, gid := DetermineTargetFileOwnership(fi, uid, gid)
-			if err := mkdirAllWithPermissions(destPath, mode, uid, gid); err != nil {
+			if err := MkdirAllWithPermissions(destPath, mode, uid, gid); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		} else if IsSymlink(fi) {
@@ -806,7 +806,7 @@ func Volumes() []string {
 	return volumes
 }
 
-func mkdirAllWithPermissions(path string, mode os.FileMode, uid, gid int64) error {
+func MkdirAllWithPermissions(path string, mode os.FileMode, uid, gid int64) error {
 	// Check if a file already exists on the path, if yes then delete it
 	info, err := os.Stat(path)
 	if err == nil && !info.IsDir() {