diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTask.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTask.java
index 7e222905ce1..f0683fe496d 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTask.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTask.java
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ public class ModifyColumnTask extends BaseTableColumnTypeTask<ModifyColumnTask>
 			throw new InternalErrorException(e);
 		}
 
-		if (isNoColumnShrink()) {
+		if (getColumnLength() != null && isNoColumnShrink()) {
 			long existingLength = existingType.getLength() != null ? existingType.getLength() : 0;
 			if (existingLength > getColumnLength()) {
 				setColumnLength(existingLength);
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTest.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTest.java
index 6a2cb7c63d3..470870226f0 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTest.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTest.java
@@ -98,6 +98,45 @@ public class ModifyColumnTest extends BaseTest {
 
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testNoShrink_ColumnMakeDateNullable() throws SQLException {
+		executeSql("create table SOMETABLE (PID bigint not null, DATECOL timestamp not null)");
+		assertFalse(JdbcUtils.isColumnNullable(getConnectionProperties(), "SOMETABLE", "PID"));
+		assertFalse(JdbcUtils.isColumnNullable(getConnectionProperties(), "SOMETABLE", "DATECOL"));
+		assertEquals(new JdbcUtils.ColumnType(BaseTableColumnTypeTask.ColumnTypeEnum.LONG, 19), JdbcUtils.getColumnType(getConnectionProperties(), "SOMETABLE", "PID"));
+		assertEquals(new JdbcUtils.ColumnType(BaseTableColumnTypeTask.ColumnTypeEnum.DATE_TIMESTAMP, 26), JdbcUtils.getColumnType(getConnectionProperties(), "SOMETABLE", "DATECOL"));
+
+		getMigrator().setNoColumnShrink(true);
+
+		// PID
+		ModifyColumnTask task = new ModifyColumnTask();
+		task.setTableName("SOMETABLE");
+		task.setColumnName("PID");
+		task.setColumnType(AddColumnTask.ColumnTypeEnum.LONG);
+		task.setNullable(true);
+		getMigrator().addTask(task);
+
+		// STRING
+		task = new ModifyColumnTask();
+		task.setTableName("SOMETABLE");
+		task.setColumnName("DATECOL");
+		task.setColumnType(AddColumnTask.ColumnTypeEnum.DATE_TIMESTAMP);
+		task.setNullable(true);
+		getMigrator().addTask(task);
+
+		// Do migration
+		getMigrator().migrate();
+
+		assertTrue(JdbcUtils.isColumnNullable(getConnectionProperties(), "SOMETABLE", "PID"));
+		assertTrue(JdbcUtils.isColumnNullable(getConnectionProperties(), "SOMETABLE", "DATECOL"));
+		assertEquals(new JdbcUtils.ColumnType(BaseTableColumnTypeTask.ColumnTypeEnum.LONG, 19), JdbcUtils.getColumnType(getConnectionProperties(), "SOMETABLE", "PID"));
+		assertEquals(new JdbcUtils.ColumnType(BaseTableColumnTypeTask.ColumnTypeEnum.DATE_TIMESTAMP, 26), JdbcUtils.getColumnType(getConnectionProperties(), "SOMETABLE", "DATECOL"));
+
+		// Make sure additional migrations don't crash
+		getMigrator().migrate();
+		getMigrator().migrate();
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testColumnMakeNotNullable() throws SQLException {
 		executeSql("create table SOMETABLE (PID bigint, TEXTCOL varchar(255))");