diff --git a/db/db_impl/db_impl.cc b/db/db_impl/db_impl.cc
index c9d7aab3ad..c985340bb7 100644
--- a/db/db_impl/db_impl.cc
+++ b/db/db_impl/db_impl.cc
@@ -4253,6 +4253,10 @@ Status DBImpl::IngestExternalFiles(
             "cannot ingest an external file into a dropped CF");
         break;
       }
+      if (args[i].options.skip_memtable_flush) {
+          need_flush[i] = false;
+          continue;
+      }
       bool tmp = false;
       status = ingestion_jobs[i].NeedsFlush(&tmp, cfd->GetSuperVersion());
       need_flush[i] = tmp;
diff --git a/include/rocksdb/options.h b/include/rocksdb/options.h
index 1404031a09..052bd367e2 100644
--- a/include/rocksdb/options.h
+++ b/include/rocksdb/options.h
@@ -1571,6 +1571,11 @@ struct IngestExternalFileOptions {
   // Using a large readahead size (> 2MB) can typically improve the performance
   // of forward iteration on spinning disks.
   size_t verify_checksums_readahead_size = 0;
+  // Set to true if you are sure although the key ranges may overlap, 
+  // the memtable and the file being ingested
+  // do not have the same keys, or not care about that.
+  // The memtable flushing may block for hundreds of milliseconds.
+  bool skip_memtable_flush = false;
 };
 
 enum TraceFilterType : uint64_t {