diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/RMAppManager.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/RMAppManager.java
index df29a0a9a4c..338a4d3eaab 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/RMAppManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/RMAppManager.java
@@ -929,7 +929,6 @@ public class RMAppManager implements EventHandler<RMAppManagerEvent>,
     boolean applicationTagBasedPlacementEnabled = conf
         .getBoolean(YarnConfiguration.APPLICATION_TAG_BASED_PLACEMENT_ENABLED,
         YarnConfiguration.DEFAULT_APPLICATION_TAG_BASED_PLACEMENT_ENABLED);
-
     String usernameUsedForPlacement = user;
     if (!applicationTagBasedPlacementEnabled) {
       return usernameUsedForPlacement;
@@ -946,11 +945,16 @@ public class RMAppManager implements EventHandler<RMAppManagerEvent>,
     if (userNameFromAppTag != null) {
       LOG.debug("Found 'userid' '{}' in application tag", userNameFromAppTag);
       UserGroupInformation callerUGI = UserGroupInformation
-              .createRemoteUser(userNameFromAppTag);
+              .createRemoteUser(user);
       // check if the actual user has rights to submit application to the
       // user's queue from the application tag
-      String queue = placementManager
-              .placeApplication(context, usernameUsedForPlacement).getQueue();
+      ApplicationPlacementContext appPlacementContext = placementManager
+              .placeApplication(context, userNameFromAppTag);
+      if (appPlacementContext == null) {
+        LOG.warn("No rule was found for user '{}'", userNameFromAppTag);
+        return usernameUsedForPlacement;
+      }
+      String queue = appPlacementContext.getQueue();
       if (callerUGI != null && scheduler
               .checkAccess(callerUGI, QueueACL.SUBMIT_APPLICATIONS, queue)) {
         usernameUsedForPlacement = userNameFromAppTag;
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestAppManager.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestAppManager.java
index 7d68b2d4edb..dfb49ba516d 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestAppManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestAppManager.java
@@ -1207,13 +1207,14 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
       throws YarnException {
     String user = "user1";
     String expectedQueue = "user1Queue";
-    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + "user2";
+    String userNameFromAppTag = "user2";
+    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + userNameFromAppTag;
     setApplicationTags("tag1", userIdTag, "tag2");
-    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, user);
+    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, userNameFromAppTag, user);
   }
 
   /**
-   * Test case for when the application tag based placement is enabled and
+   * Test for the case when the application tag based placement is enabled and
    * the submitting user 'user1' is whitelisted and the user from the
    * application tag has access to queue.
    * Expected behaviour: the placement is done for user from the tag 'user2'
@@ -1222,16 +1223,18 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
   public void testGetUserNameForPlacementTagBasedPlacementEnabled()
           throws YarnException {
     String user = "user1";
+    String usernameFromAppTag = "user2";
     String expectedQueue = "user1Queue";
-    String expectedUser = "user2";
-    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + expectedUser;
+    String expectedUser = usernameFromAppTag;
+    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + usernameFromAppTag;
     setApplicationTags("tag1", userIdTag, "tag2");
     enableApplicationTagPlacement(true, user);
-    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, expectedUser);
+    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, usernameFromAppTag,
+            expectedUser);
   }
 
   /**
-   * Test case for when the application tag based placement is enabled.
+   * Test for the case when the application tag based placement is enabled.
    * And submitting user 'user1' is whitelisted and  there are multiple valid
    * username tags passed
    * Expected behaviour: the placement is done for the first valid username
@@ -1242,16 +1245,18 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
           throws YarnException {
     String user = "user1";
     String expectedQueue = "user1Queue";
-    String expectedUser = "user2";
+    String userNameFromAppTag = "user2";
+    String expectedUser = userNameFromAppTag;
     String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + expectedUser;
     String userIdTag2 = USER_ID_PREFIX + "user3";
     setApplicationTags("tag1", userIdTag, "tag2", userIdTag2);
     enableApplicationTagPlacement(true, user);
-    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, expectedUser);
+    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, userNameFromAppTag,
+            expectedUser);
   }
 
   /**
-   * Test case for when the application tag based placement is enabled.
+   * Test for the case when the application tag based placement is enabled.
    * And no username is set in the application tag
    * Expected behaviour: the placement is done for the submitting user 'user1'
    */
@@ -1260,13 +1265,14 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
           throws YarnException {
     String user = "user1";
     String expectedQueue = "user1Queue";
+    String userNameFromAppTag = null;
     setApplicationTags("tag1", "tag2");
     enableApplicationTagPlacement(true, user);
-    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, user);
+    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, userNameFromAppTag, user);
   }
 
   /**
-   * Test case for when the application tag based placement is enabled but
+   * Test for the case when the application tag based placement is enabled but
    * the user from the application tag 'user2' does not have access to the
    * queue.
    * Expected behaviour: the placement is done for the submitting user 'user1'
@@ -1276,14 +1282,15 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
           throws YarnException {
     String user = "user1";
     String expectedQueue = "user1Queue";
-    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + "user2";
+    String userNameFromAppTag = "user2";
+    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + userNameFromAppTag;
     setApplicationTags("tag1", userIdTag, "tag2");
     enableApplicationTagPlacement(false, user);
-    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, user);
+    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, userNameFromAppTag, user);
   }
 
   /**
-   * Test case for when the application tag based placement is enabled but
+   * Test for the case when the application tag based placement is enabled but
    * the submitting user 'user1' is not whitelisted and there is a valid
    * username tag passed.
    * Expected behaviour: the placement is done for the submitting user 'user1'
@@ -1293,14 +1300,15 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
           throws YarnException {
     String user = "user1";
     String expectedQueue = "user1Queue";
-    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + "user2";
+    String userNameFromAppTag = "user2";
+    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + userNameFromAppTag;
     setApplicationTags("tag1", userIdTag, "tag2");
     enableApplicationTagPlacement(true, "someUser");
-    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, user);
+    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, userNameFromAppTag, user);
   }
 
   /**
-   * Test case for when the application tag based placement is enabled but
+   * Test for the case when the application tag based placement is enabled but
    * there is no whitelisted user.
    * Expected behaviour: the placement is done for the submitting user 'user1'
    */
@@ -1309,15 +1317,16 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
           throws YarnException {
     String user = "user1";
     String expectedQueue = "user1Queue";
-    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + "user2";
+    String userNameFromAppTag = "user2";
+    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + userNameFromAppTag;
     setApplicationTags("tag1", userIdTag, "tag2");
     enableApplicationTagPlacement(false);
-    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, user);
+    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, userNameFromAppTag, user);
   }
 
 
   /**
-   * Test case for when the application tag based placement is enabled and
+   * Test for the case when the application tag based placement is enabled and
    * there is one wrongly qualified user
    * 'userid=' and a valid user 'userid=user2' passed
    * with application tag.
@@ -1329,16 +1338,18 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
           throws YarnException {
     String user = "user1";
     String expectedQueue = "user1Queue";
-    String expectedUser = "user2";
-    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + expectedUser;
+    String userNameFromAppTag = "user2";
+    String expectedUser = userNameFromAppTag;
+    String userIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + userNameFromAppTag;
     String wrongUserIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX;
     setApplicationTags("tag1", wrongUserIdTag, userIdTag, "tag2");
     enableApplicationTagPlacement(true, user);
-    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, expectedUser);
+    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, userNameFromAppTag,
+            expectedUser);
   }
 
   /**
-   * Test case for when the application tag based placement is enabled and
+   * Test for the case when the application tag based placement is enabled and
    * there is only one wrongly qualified user 'userid=' passed
    * with application tag.
    * Expected behaviour: the placement is done for the submitting user 'user1'
@@ -1348,10 +1359,33 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
           throws YarnException {
     String user = "user1";
     String expectedQueue = "user1Queue";
+    String userNameFromAppTag = "";
     String wrongUserIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX;
     setApplicationTags("tag1", wrongUserIdTag, "tag2");
     enableApplicationTagPlacement(true, user);
-    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, user);
+    verifyPlacementUsername(expectedQueue, user, userNameFromAppTag, user);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Test for the case when the application tag based placement is enabled.
+   * And there is no placement rule defined for the user from the application tag
+   * Expected behaviour: the placement is done for the submitting user 'user1'
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testGetUserNameForPlacementNoRuleDefined()
+          throws YarnException {
+    String user = "user1";
+    String expectedUser = user;
+    String userNameFromAppTag = "user2";
+    String wrongUserIdTag = USER_ID_PREFIX + userNameFromAppTag;
+    setApplicationTags("tag1", wrongUserIdTag, "tag2");
+    enableApplicationTagPlacement(true, user);
+    PlacementManager placementMgr = mock(PlacementManager.class);
+    when(placementMgr.placeApplication(asContext, userNameFromAppTag))
+            .thenReturn(null);
+    String userNameForPlacement = appMonitor
+            .getUserNameForPlacement(user, asContext, placementMgr);
+    Assert.assertEquals(expectedUser, userNameForPlacement);
   }
 
   private void enableApplicationTagPlacement(boolean userHasAccessToQueue,
@@ -1375,12 +1409,13 @@ public class TestAppManager extends AppManagerTestBase{
   }
 
   private void verifyPlacementUsername(final String queue,
-          final String submittingUser, final String expectedUser)
+          final String submittingUser, final String userNameFRomAppTag,
+          final String expectedUser)
           throws YarnException {
     PlacementManager placementMgr = mock(PlacementManager.class);
     ApplicationPlacementContext appContext
             = new ApplicationPlacementContext(queue);
-    when(placementMgr.placeApplication(asContext, submittingUser))
+    when(placementMgr.placeApplication(asContext, userNameFRomAppTag))
             .thenReturn(appContext);
     String userNameForPlacement = appMonitor
             .getUserNameForPlacement(submittingUser, asContext, placementMgr);