diff --git a/src/compiler/checker.ts b/src/compiler/checker.ts
index f7d72d3950e49..c003090aaf45d 100644
--- a/src/compiler/checker.ts
+++ b/src/compiler/checker.ts
@@ -414,7 +414,8 @@ namespace ts {
             },
             getSymbolAtLocation: node => {
                 node = getParseTreeNode(node);
-                return node ? getSymbolAtLocation(node) : undefined;
+                // set ignoreErrors: true because any lookups invoked by the API shouldn't cause any new errors
+                return node ? getSymbolAtLocation(node, /*ignoreErrors*/ true) : undefined;
             },
             getShorthandAssignmentValueSymbol: node => {
                 node = getParseTreeNode(node);
@@ -34412,7 +34413,7 @@ namespace ts {
             return undefined;
         }
 
-        function getSymbolAtLocation(node: Node): Symbol | undefined {
+        function getSymbolAtLocation(node: Node, ignoreErrors?: boolean): Symbol | undefined {
             if (node.kind === SyntaxKind.SourceFile) {
                 return isExternalModule(<SourceFile>node) ? getMergedSymbol(node.symbol) : undefined;
             }
@@ -34496,7 +34497,7 @@ namespace ts {
                         ((isInJSFile(node) && isRequireCall(node.parent, /*checkArgumentIsStringLiteralLike*/ false)) || isImportCall(node.parent)) ||
                         (isLiteralTypeNode(node.parent) && isLiteralImportTypeNode(node.parent.parent) && node.parent.parent.argument === node.parent)
                     ) {
-                        return resolveExternalModuleName(node, <LiteralExpression>node);
+                        return resolveExternalModuleName(node, <LiteralExpression>node, ignoreErrors);
                     }
                     if (isCallExpression(parent) && isBindableObjectDefinePropertyCall(parent) && parent.arguments[1] === node) {
                         return getSymbolOfNode(parent);
@@ -34518,7 +34519,7 @@ namespace ts {
                 case SyntaxKind.ClassKeyword:
                     return getSymbolOfNode(node.parent);
                 case SyntaxKind.ImportType:
-                    return isLiteralImportTypeNode(node) ? getSymbolAtLocation(node.argument.literal) : undefined;
+                    return isLiteralImportTypeNode(node) ? getSymbolAtLocation(node.argument.literal, ignoreErrors) : undefined;
 
                 case SyntaxKind.ExportKeyword:
                     return isExportAssignment(node.parent) ? Debug.assertDefined(node.parent.symbol) : undefined;
diff --git a/src/testRunner/unittests/programApi.ts b/src/testRunner/unittests/programApi.ts
index 5f5251afaf253..3b71fea7238c1 100644
--- a/src/testRunner/unittests/programApi.ts
+++ b/src/testRunner/unittests/programApi.ts
@@ -178,4 +178,19 @@ namespace ts {
             assert.isNotNaN(program.getIdentifierCount());
         });
     });
+
+    describe("unittests:: programApi:: Program.getDiagnosticsProducingTypeChecker / Program.getSemanticDiagnostics", () => {
+        it("getSymbolAtLocation does not cause additional error to be added on module resolution failure", () => {
+            const main = new documents.TextDocument("/main.ts", "import \"./module\";");
+            const mod = new documents.TextDocument("/module.d.ts", "declare const foo: any;");
+
+            const fs = vfs.createFromFileSystem(Harness.IO, /*ignoreCase*/ false, { documents: [main, mod], cwd: "/" });
+            const program = createProgram(["/main.ts"], {}, new fakes.CompilerHost(fs, { newLine: NewLineKind.LineFeed }));
+
+            const sourceFile = program.getSourceFile("main.ts")!;
+            const typeChecker = program.getDiagnosticsProducingTypeChecker();
+            typeChecker.getSymbolAtLocation((sourceFile.statements[0] as ImportDeclaration).moduleSpecifier);
+            assert.isEmpty(program.getSemanticDiagnostics());
+        });
+    });
 }