diff --git a/services/src/main/java/org/keycloak/protocol/saml/EntityDescriptorDescriptionConverter.java b/services/src/main/java/org/keycloak/protocol/saml/EntityDescriptorDescriptionConverter.java
index 38d0c6a625..5a9d821dfc 100755
--- a/services/src/main/java/org/keycloak/protocol/saml/EntityDescriptorDescriptionConverter.java
+++ b/services/src/main/java/org/keycloak/protocol/saml/EntityDescriptorDescriptionConverter.java
@@ -117,6 +117,15 @@ public class EntityDescriptorDescriptionConverter implements ClientDescriptionCo
             attributes.put(SamlProtocol.SAML_ASSERTION_CONSUMER_URL_REDIRECT_ATTRIBUTE, assertionConsumerServiceRedirectBinding);
             redirectUris.add(assertionConsumerServiceRedirectBinding);
         }
+        if (spDescriptorType.getNameIDFormat() != null) {
+            for (String format : spDescriptorType.getNameIDFormat()) {
+                String attribute = SamlClient.samlNameIDFormatToClientAttribute(format);
+                if (attribute != null) {
+                    attributes.put(SamlConfigAttributes.SAML_NAME_ID_FORMAT_ATTRIBUTE, attribute);
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        }
 
         for (KeyDescriptorType keyDescriptor : spDescriptorType.getKeyDescriptor()) {
             X509Certificate cert = null;
diff --git a/services/src/main/java/org/keycloak/protocol/saml/SamlClient.java b/services/src/main/java/org/keycloak/protocol/saml/SamlClient.java
index 09659e4c83..0415a72d77 100755
--- a/services/src/main/java/org/keycloak/protocol/saml/SamlClient.java
+++ b/services/src/main/java/org/keycloak/protocol/saml/SamlClient.java
@@ -74,6 +74,22 @@ public class SamlClient extends ClientConfigResolver {
         return nameIdFormat;
 
     }
+
+    public static String samlNameIDFormatToClientAttribute(String nameIdFormat) {
+        if (nameIdFormat.equals(JBossSAMLURIConstants.NAMEID_FORMAT_EMAIL.get())) {
+            return "email";
+        } else if (nameIdFormat.equals(JBossSAMLURIConstants.NAMEID_FORMAT_PERSISTENT.get())) {
+            return "persistent";
+        } else if (nameIdFormat.equals(JBossSAMLURIConstants.NAMEID_FORMAT_TRANSIENT.get())) {
+            return "transient";
+        } else if (nameIdFormat.equals(JBossSAMLURIConstants.NAMEID_FORMAT_UNSPECIFIED.get())) {
+            return "username";
+        }
+        return null;
+
+    }
+
+
     public void setNameIDFormat(String format) {
         client.setAttribute(SamlConfigAttributes.SAML_NAME_ID_FORMAT_ATTRIBUTE, format);
     }
diff --git a/testsuite/integration/src/test/java/org/keycloak/testsuite/keycloaksaml/SamlAdapterTest.java b/testsuite/integration/src/test/java/org/keycloak/testsuite/keycloaksaml/SamlAdapterTest.java
index 30fe7b6a14..37f2b65c5a 100755
--- a/testsuite/integration/src/test/java/org/keycloak/testsuite/keycloaksaml/SamlAdapterTest.java
+++ b/testsuite/integration/src/test/java/org/keycloak/testsuite/keycloaksaml/SamlAdapterTest.java
@@ -17,10 +17,15 @@
 
 package org.keycloak.testsuite.keycloaksaml;
 
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.ClassRule;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.keycloak.admin.client.Keycloak;
+import org.keycloak.admin.client.resource.RealmResource;
+import org.keycloak.models.Constants;
+import org.keycloak.representations.idm.ClientRepresentation;
 import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
 
 import javax.ws.rs.client.Client;
@@ -28,6 +33,8 @@ import javax.ws.rs.client.ClientBuilder;
 import javax.ws.rs.client.Entity;
 import javax.ws.rs.core.Form;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
 /**
  * @author <a href="mailto:bill@burkecentral.com">Bill Burke</a>
  * @version $Revision: 1 $
@@ -190,5 +197,26 @@ public class SamlAdapterTest {
 
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test KEYCLOAK-2718
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testNameIDFormatImport() throws Exception {
+        String resourcePath = "/keycloak-saml/sp-metadata-email-nameid.xml";
+        Keycloak keycloak = Keycloak.getInstance("http://localhost:8081/auth", "master", "admin", "admin", Constants.ADMIN_CLI_CLIENT_ID, null);
+        RealmResource admin = keycloak.realm("demo");
+
+        admin.toRepresentation();
+
+        ClientRepresentation clientRep = admin.convertClientDescription(IOUtils.toString(SamlAdapterTestStrategy.class.getResourceAsStream(resourcePath)));
+        assertEquals("email", clientRep.getAttributes().get("saml_name_id_format"));
+
+
+        keycloak.close();
+
+
+    }
+
+
 
 }
diff --git a/testsuite/integration/src/test/resources/keycloak-saml/sp-metadata-email-nameid.xml b/testsuite/integration/src/test/resources/keycloak-saml/sp-metadata-email-nameid.xml
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..d0a697c9f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/integration/src/test/resources/keycloak-saml/sp-metadata-email-nameid.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright 2016 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates
+  ~ and other contributors as indicated by the @author tags.
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed 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.
+  -->
+
+<EntitiesDescriptor Name="urn:mace:shibboleth:testshib:two"
+                    xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"
+        >
+    <EntityDescriptor entityID="saml-client-email-nameid">
+        <SPSSODescriptor AuthnRequestsSigned="true"
+                protocolSupportEnumeration="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:protocol http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2003/07/secext">
+            <NameIDFormat>urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress
+            </NameIDFormat>
+            <SingleLogoutService Binding="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-POST" Location="http://localhost:8081/sales-metadata/saml"/>
+            <AssertionConsumerService
+                    Binding="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-POST" Location="http://localhost:8081/sales-metadata/saml"
+                    index="1" isDefault="true" />
+            <KeyDescriptor use="signing">
+                <dsig:KeyInfo xmlns:dsig="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
+                    <dsig:X509Data>
+                        <dsig:X509Certificate>
+                            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
+                        </dsig:X509Certificate>
+                    </dsig:X509Data>
+                </dsig:KeyInfo>
+            </KeyDescriptor>
+        </SPSSODescriptor>
+        <Organization>
+            <OrganizationName xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"
+                              xml:lang="en">JBoss</OrganizationName>
+            <OrganizationDisplayName xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"
+                                     xml:lang="en">JBoss by Red Hat</OrganizationDisplayName>
+            <OrganizationURL xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"
+                             xml:lang="en">http://localhost:8080/sales-metadata/</OrganizationURL>
+        </Organization>
+        <ContactPerson contactType="technical">
+            <GivenName>The</GivenName>
+            <SurName>Admin</SurName>
+            <EmailAddress>admin@mycompany.com</EmailAddress>
+        </ContactPerson>
+    </EntityDescriptor>
+</EntitiesDescriptor>
\ No newline at end of file