diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/management/commands/tests/test_migrate_to_split.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/management/commands/tests/test_migrate_to_split.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f800b2f62a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/management/commands/tests/test_migrate_to_split.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+"""
+Unittests for importing a course via management command
+"""
+
+import unittest
+
+from django.core.management import CommandError
+from contentstore.management.commands.migrate_to_split import Command
+
+
+class TestArgParsing(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.command = Command()
+
+    def test_no_args(self):
+        errstring = "migrate_to_split requires at least two arguments"
+        with self.assertRaisesRegexp(CommandError, errstring):
+            self.command.handle()
+
+    def test_invalid_location(self):
+        errstring = "Invalid location string"
+        with self.assertRaisesRegexp(CommandError, errstring):
+            self.command.handle("foo", "bar")
+
+    def test_nonexistant_user_id(self):
+        errstring = "No user exists with ID 99"
+        with self.assertRaisesRegexp(CommandError, errstring):
+            self.command.handle("i4x://org/course/category/name", "99")
+
+    def test_nonexistant_user_email(self):
+        errstring = "No user exists with email fake@example.com"
+        with self.assertRaisesRegexp(CommandError, errstring):
+            self.command.handle("i4x://org/course/category/name", "fake@example.com")