diff --git a/Koha/Patrons/Import.pm b/Koha/Patrons/Import.pm
index b18db0d7ad..9414247f91 100644
--- a/Koha/Patrons/Import.pm
+++ b/Koha/Patrons/Import.pm
@@ -387,6 +387,7 @@ sub prepare_columns {
     foreach my $keycol (@csvcolumns) {
         # columnkeys don't contain whitespace, but some stupid tools add it
         $keycol =~ s/ +//g;
+        $keycol =~ s/^\N{BOM}//; # Strip BOM if exists, otherwise it will be part of first column key
         $params->{keycol}->{$keycol} = $col++;
     }