diff --git a/web/src/pages/import_export/common/schema.rs b/web/src/pages/import_export/common/schema.rs
index 02c602a0..25560e33 100644
--- a/web/src/pages/import_export/common/schema.rs
+++ b/web/src/pages/import_export/common/schema.rs
@@ -112,16 +112,10 @@ pub(crate) fn csv_value(locale: Locale, raw: &str, data_type: &str) -> Result<Va
         normalized.as_str(),
         "INTEGER" | "INT" | "INT4" | "INT2" | "BIGINT" | "INT8"
     ) {
-        let integer = raw
-            .parse::<i64>()
-            .map_err(|_| {
-                tr!(
-                    locale,
-                    "import-err-bad-integer",
-                    "value" => raw.to_string(),
-                )
-            })?;
-        Kind::NumberValue(integer as f64)
+        match raw.parse::<i64>() {
+            Ok(integer) => Kind::NumberValue(integer as f64),
+            Err(_) => Kind::StringValue(raw.to_string()),
+        }
     } else {
         Kind::StringValue(raw.to_string())
     };
@@ -188,5 +182,9 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
-
+    #[test]
+    fn integer_columns_pass_non_numeric_text_to_the_backend() {
+        let value = csv_value(Locale::English, "KUPE SRO", "BIGINT").unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(value.kind, Some(Kind::StringValue("KUPE SRO".to_string())));
+    }
 }