diff --git a/pandora/annotation/management/commands/import_srt.py b/pandora/annotation/management/commands/import_srt.py
index cb647fdc..7eeecc14 100644
--- a/pandora/annotation/management/commands/import_srt.py
+++ b/pandora/annotation/management/commands/import_srt.py
@@ -1,19 +1,22 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 from __future__ import print_function
 
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
 from django.db import transaction
-from django.conf import settings
 
 import ox
 
 import app.monkey_patch
 
 from item.models import Item
-from user.models import User
 
 from ... import models
 
+User = get_user_model()
+
+
 class Command(BaseCommand):
     """
     import annotations
diff --git a/pandora/annotation/models.py b/pandora/annotation/models.py
index 53f162a8..1327f3bd 100644
--- a/pandora/annotation/models.py
+++ b/pandora/annotation/models.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import unicodedata
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.db import models, transaction
 from django.db.models import Q
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.db.models.signals import pre_delete
 
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ from item.utils import sort_string, get_by_key
 from . import managers
 from . import utils
 
+User = get_user_model()
+
 def get_super_matches(obj, model):
     super_matches = []
     name_lower = obj.name.lower()
diff --git a/pandora/annotation/tasks.py b/pandora/annotation/tasks.py
index 180198d3..88087b0f 100644
--- a/pandora/annotation/tasks.py
+++ b/pandora/annotation/tasks.py
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 from __future__ import division, print_function, absolute_import
 
-import ox
-
 from django.conf import settings
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.db import transaction
+
+import ox
 from celery.task import task
 
 from .models import Annotation
@@ -14,7 +15,8 @@ from .models import Annotation
 def add_annotations(data):
     from item.models import Item
     from entity.models import Entity
-    from user.models import User
+    User = get_user_model()
+
     item = Item.objects.get(public_id=data['item'])
     layer_id = data['layer']
     layer = list(filter(lambda l: l['id'] == layer_id, settings.CONFIG['layers']))
diff --git a/pandora/app/config.py b/pandora/app/config.py
index f559aabf..e7b39884 100644
--- a/pandora/app/config.py
+++ b/pandora/app/config.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from glob import glob
 
 from six.moves import _thread as thread
 from django.conf import settings
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 
 import ox.jsonc
 from ox.utils import json
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ from ox.utils import json
 from archive.extract import supported_formats
 from item.utils import get_by_id
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 _win = (sys.platform == "win32")
 
diff --git a/pandora/app/monkey_patch.py b/pandora/app/monkey_patch.py
index 08065973..8c2bead5 100644
--- a/pandora/app/monkey_patch.py
+++ b/pandora/app/monkey_patch.py
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 from __future__ import division, print_function, absolute_import
 
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+
 from django.core.validators import MaxLengthValidator
 
+User = get_user_model()
+
 # load config from json
 from . import config
 config.init()
diff --git a/pandora/archive/models.py b/pandora/archive/models.py
index 4c756508..0e0d5c84 100644
--- a/pandora/archive/models.py
+++ b/pandora/archive/models.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import time
 
 from six import string_types, PY2
 from django.conf import settings
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.db import models
 from django.db.models.signals import pre_delete
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ from .chunk import save_chunk
 from . import extract
 from . import managers
 
+User = get_user_model()
+
 if not PY2:
     unicode = str
 
diff --git a/pandora/changelog/models.py b/pandora/changelog/models.py
index 31b955a2..bad1a858 100644
--- a/pandora/changelog/models.py
+++ b/pandora/changelog/models.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ from __future__ import division, print_function, absolute_import
 
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.db import models
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from oxdjango.fields import JSONField
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ import websocket
 
 from . import managers
 
+User = get_user_model()
+
 '''
 FIXME: remove this table more migrate to new ChangeLog
 '''
diff --git a/pandora/document/models.py b/pandora/document/models.py
index c5b75fad..fdf58874 100644
--- a/pandora/document/models.py
+++ b/pandora/document/models.py
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ from six import PY2, string_types
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import quote, unquote
 from django.db import models, transaction
 from django.db.models import Q, Sum, Max
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.db.models.signals import pre_delete
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
@@ -30,6 +31,8 @@ from archive.chunk import save_chunk
 from . import managers
 from . import utils
 
+User = get_user_model()
+
 if not PY2:
     unicode = str
 
diff --git a/pandora/documentcollection/models.py b/pandora/documentcollection/models.py
index 7a41e5d3..774ac8f7 100644
--- a/pandora/documentcollection/models.py
+++ b/pandora/documentcollection/models.py
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ from glob import glob
 
 from django.db import models
 from django.db.models import Max
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from oxdjango.fields import JSONField
@@ -20,6 +21,8 @@ from user.utils import update_groups
 
 from . import managers
 
+User = get_user_model()
+
 
 def get_path(f, x):
     return f.path(x)
diff --git a/pandora/edit/models.py b/pandora/edit/models.py
index 75a6987a..39c4fc19 100644
--- a/pandora/edit/models.py
+++ b/pandora/edit/models.py
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ import ox
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.db import models, transaction
 from django.db.models import Max
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from oxdjango.fields import JSONField
 
@@ -27,6 +29,9 @@ from user.utils import update_groups
 
 from . import managers
 
+
+User = get_user_model()
+
 def get_path(f, x): return f.path(x)
 def get_icon_path(f, x): return get_path(f, 'icon.jpg')
 
diff --git a/pandora/entity/models.py b/pandora/entity/models.py
index b094e9bf..80ab9b5e 100644
--- a/pandora/entity/models.py
+++ b/pandora/entity/models.py
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ from six import string_types
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import quote, unquote
 from django.db import models, transaction
 from django.db.models import Max
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+
 from django.db.models.signals import pre_delete, post_init
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ from document.models import Document
 
 from . import managers
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 @python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Entity(models.Model):
diff --git a/pandora/event/models.py b/pandora/event/models.py
index 01ac66dc..1e992557 100644
--- a/pandora/event/models.py
+++ b/pandora/event/models.py
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 from __future__ import division, print_function, absolute_import
 
 from django.db import models, transaction
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 
 import ox
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ from title.models import get_title_sort
 
 from . import managers
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 @python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Event(models.Model):
diff --git a/pandora/item/models.py b/pandora/item/models.py
index 7b901e5c..effd64f0 100644
--- a/pandora/item/models.py
+++ b/pandora/item/models.py
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@ from six.moves.urllib.parse import quote
 from django.db import models, transaction, connection
 from django.db.models import Q, Sum, Max
 from django.conf import settings
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+
 from django.db.models.signals import pre_delete
 from django.utils import datetime_safe
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
@@ -43,6 +45,7 @@ from title.models import get_title_sort
 from user.utils import update_groups
 import archive.models
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 if not PY2:
     unicode = str
diff --git a/pandora/itemlist/models.py b/pandora/itemlist/models.py
index 452aac25..9af7fc4b 100644
--- a/pandora/itemlist/models.py
+++ b/pandora/itemlist/models.py
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ from glob import glob
 
 from django.db import models
 from django.db.models import Max
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from oxdjango.fields import JSONField
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ from user.utils import update_groups
 
 from . import managers
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 def get_path(f, x): return f.path(x)
 def get_icon_path(f, x): return get_path(f, 'icon.jpg')
diff --git a/pandora/log/models.py b/pandora/log/models.py
index e730947d..a4cde6c0 100644
--- a/pandora/log/models.py
+++ b/pandora/log/models.py
@@ -2,12 +2,16 @@
 from __future__ import division, print_function, absolute_import
 
 from django.db import models
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
+
 import ox
 
 from . import managers
 
+User = get_user_model()
+
+
 @python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Log(models.Model):
     created = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, db_index=True)
diff --git a/pandora/place/models.py b/pandora/place/models.py
index f8cf3840..318a3d15 100644
--- a/pandora/place/models.py
+++ b/pandora/place/models.py
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 from __future__ import division, print_function, absolute_import
 
 from django.db import models, transaction
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 import ox
 from oxdjango import fields
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@ from item.models import Item
 
 from . import managers
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 @python_2_unicode_compatible
 class Place(models.Model):
diff --git a/pandora/taskqueue/models.py b/pandora/taskqueue/models.py
index ea85fcc2..839aff39 100644
--- a/pandora/taskqueue/models.py
+++ b/pandora/taskqueue/models.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from time import time
 
 from celery.backends import default_backend
 from celery.utils import get_full_cls_name
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.db import models
 from django.db.models import Q
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import celery.task.control
 import kombu.five
 import ox
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 def get_tasks(username):
     from item.models import Item
diff --git a/pandora/text/models.py b/pandora/text/models.py
index d2451a19..fc9e7291 100644
--- a/pandora/text/models.py
+++ b/pandora/text/models.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from glob import glob
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import quote
 from django.db import models
 from django.db.models import Max
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.db.models.signals import pre_delete
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from archive.chunk import save_chunk
 
 from . import managers
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 def get_path(i, x): return i.path(x)
 def get_icon_path(i, x): return get_path(i, 'icon.jpg')
diff --git a/pandora/user/models.py b/pandora/user/models.py
index 44cd0fde..683295c9 100644
--- a/pandora/user/models.py
+++ b/pandora/user/models.py
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ from __future__ import division, print_function, absolute_import
 import copy
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.db import models
 from django.db.models import Max
 from django.conf import settings
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ from . import managers
 from . import tasks
 from .utils import get_ip, get_location
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 @python_2_unicode_compatible
 class SessionData(models.Model):
diff --git a/pandora/user/views.py b/pandora/user/views.py
index 89edcdcf..406d24f5 100644
--- a/pandora/user/views.py
+++ b/pandora/user/views.py
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ from django.core.mail import send_mail, BadHeaderError, EmailMessage
 from django.shortcuts import redirect
 from django.db import transaction
 from django.db.models import Max
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.contrib.sessions.models import Session
 
 from oxdjango.shortcuts import render_to_json_response, json_response, get_object_or_404_json
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ from . import models
 from .decorators import capability_required_json
 from .utils import rename_user
 
+User = get_user_model()
 
 def get_user_or_404(data):
     if 'id' in data: