diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/gssapi/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/gssapi/default.nix
index 622360edd24e..811d5f28ce7e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/gssapi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/gssapi/default.nix
@@ -57,10 +57,18 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
 
   doCheck = !stdenv.isDarwin; # many failures on darwin
 
+  # skip tests which fail possibly due to be an upstream issue (see
+  # https://github.com/pythongssapi/python-gssapi/issues/220)
   checkPhase = ''
+    # some tests don't respond to being disabled through nosetests -x
+    echo $'\ndel CredsTestCase.test_add_with_impersonate' >> gssapi/tests/test_high_level.py
+    echo $'\ndel TestBaseUtilities.test_acquire_creds_impersonate_name' >> gssapi/tests/test_raw.py
+    echo $'\ndel TestBaseUtilities.test_add_cred_impersonate_name' >> gssapi/tests/test_raw.py
+
     export PYTHONPATH="$out/${python.sitePackages}:$PYTHONPATH"
-    ${python.interpreter} setup.py nosetests
+    ${python.interpreter} setup.py nosetests -e 'ext_test_\d.*'
   '';
+  pythonImportsCheck = [ "gssapi" ];
 
   meta = with lib; {
     homepage = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/gssapi";