diff --git a/db/migrate/20170817123339_add_verification_status_to_gpg_signatures.rb b/db/migrate/20170817123339_add_verification_status_to_gpg_signatures.rb
index d50277aa066edf5cf502379b2ec73a621050a3bb..126036a95d8fcb578efef705ab134a7a25c7e544 100644
--- a/db/migrate/20170817123339_add_verification_status_to_gpg_signatures.rb
+++ b/db/migrate/20170817123339_add_verification_status_to_gpg_signatures.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,28 @@
 class AddVerificationStatusToGpgSignatures < ActiveRecord::Migration
   DOWNTIME = false
 
-  def change
-    add_column :gpg_signatures, :verification_status, :smallint
+  include Gitlab::Database::MigrationHelpers
+  disable_ddl_transaction!
+
+  class GpgSignature < ActiveRecord::Base
+    self.table_name = 'gpg_signatures'
+
+    include EachBatch
+  end
+
+  def up
+    # First we remove all signatures because we need to re-verify them all
+    # again anyway (because of the updated verification logic).
+    #
+    # This makes adding the column with default values faster
+    GpgSignature.each_batch do |relation|
+      relation.delete_all
+    end
+
+    add_column_with_default(:gpg_signatures, :verification_status, :smallint, default: 0)
+  end
+
+  def down
+    remove_column(:gpg_signatures, :verification_status)
   end
 end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index e2c602b000f249ce8a1fb8e5abeb9cb34e5e1e75..8db0d08016697d8894d343052963806b725323cd 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -614,7 +614,7 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20170830125940) do
     t.binary "gpg_key_primary_keyid"
     t.text "gpg_key_user_name"
     t.text "gpg_key_user_email"
-    t.integer "verification_status", limit: 2
+    t.integer "verification_status", limit: 2, default: 0, null: false
   end
 
   add_index "gpg_signatures", ["commit_sha"], name: "index_gpg_signatures_on_commit_sha", unique: true, using: :btree