diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index 9b7aeccdc710e2b0babf3c801c216f3baace6781..e4f4c806bff0efcbac53df480206d7f6f1f8cd10 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -14,12 +14,7 @@ load("@io_bazel_rules_closure//closure:defs.bzl", "closure_repositories")
 
 closure_repositories()
 
-load("//tensorflow:workspace.bzl", "check_version", "tf_workspace")
-
-# We must check the bazel version before trying to parse any other BUILD files,
-# in case the parsing of those build files depends on the bazel version we
-# require here.
-check_version("0.4.5")
+load("//tensorflow:workspace.bzl", "tf_workspace")
 
 # Uncomment and update the paths in these entries to build the Android demo.
 #android_sdk_repository(
diff --git a/tensorflow/workspace.bzl b/tensorflow/workspace.bzl
index 25aecb5707584cba71e1bccd6a242be3972f176d..4c4973080f45ed76a4e97adf922ac2e74f94edae 100644
--- a/tensorflow/workspace.bzl
+++ b/tensorflow/workspace.bzl
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@ temp_workaround_http_archive = repository_rule(
 # If TensorFlow is linked as a submodule.
 # path_prefix and tf_repo_name are no longer used.
 def tf_workspace(path_prefix = "", tf_repo_name = ""):
+  # We must check the bazel version before trying to parse any other BUILD
+  # files, in case the parsing of those build files depends on the bazel
+  # version we require here.
+  check_version("0.4.5")
   cuda_configure(name = "local_config_cuda")
   sycl_configure(name = "local_config_sycl")
   if path_prefix: