diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/cloudformation-diff/lib/diff-template.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/cloudformation-diff/lib/diff-template.ts
index 4bf1d29f57570..76f7f161f892d 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/cloudformation-diff/lib/diff-template.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/cloudformation-diff/lib/diff-template.ts
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ export function fullDiff(
   currentTemplate: { [key: string]: any },
   newTemplate: { [key: string]: any },
   changeSet?: CloudFormation.DescribeChangeSetOutput,
+  isImport?: boolean,
 ): types.TemplateDiff {
 
   normalize(currentTemplate);
@@ -54,6 +55,8 @@ export function fullDiff(
   if (changeSet) {
     filterFalsePositives(theDiff, changeSet);
     addImportInformation(theDiff, changeSet);
+  } else if (isImport) {
+    makeAllResourceChangesImports(theDiff);
   }
 
   return theDiff;
@@ -218,6 +221,12 @@ function addImportInformation(diff: types.TemplateDiff, changeSet: CloudFormatio
   });
 }
 
+function makeAllResourceChangesImports(diff: types.TemplateDiff) {
+  diff.resources.forEachDifference((_logicalId: string, change: types.ResourceDifference) => {
+    change.isImport = true;
+  });
+}
+
 function filterFalsePositives(diff: types.TemplateDiff, changeSet: CloudFormation.DescribeChangeSetOutput) {
   const replacements = findResourceReplacements(changeSet);
   diff.resources.forEachDifference((logicalId: string, change: types.ResourceDifference) => {
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/util/cloudformation.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/util/cloudformation.ts
index b61991bf51699..3176b88ab621b 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/util/cloudformation.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/util/cloudformation.ts
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ async function uploadBodyParameterAndCreateChangeSet(options: PrepareChangeSetOp
 }
 
 async function createChangeSet(options: CreateChangeSetOptions): Promise<CloudFormation.DescribeChangeSetOutput> {
-  await cleanupOldChangeset(options.exists, options.changeSetName, options.stack.stackName, options.cfn);
+  await cleanupOldChangeset(options.changeSetName, options.stack.stackName, options.cfn);
 
   debug(`Attempting to create ChangeSet with name ${options.changeSetName} for stack ${options.stack.stackName}`);
 
@@ -388,23 +388,16 @@ async function createChangeSet(options: CreateChangeSetOptions): Promise<CloudFo
   debug('Initiated creation of changeset: %s; waiting for it to finish creating...', changeSet.Id);
   // Fetching all pages if we'll execute, so we can have the correct change count when monitoring.
   const createdChangeSet = await waitForChangeSet(options.cfn, options.stack.stackName, options.changeSetName, { fetchAll: options.willExecute });
-  await cleanupOldChangeset(options.exists, options.changeSetName, options.stack.stackName, options.cfn);
+  await cleanupOldChangeset(options.changeSetName, options.stack.stackName, options.cfn);
 
   return createdChangeSet;
 }
 
-export async function cleanupOldChangeset(stackExists: boolean, changeSetName: string, stackName: string, cfn: CloudFormation) {
-  if (stackExists) {
-    // Delete any existing change sets generated by CDK since change set names must be unique.
-    // The delete request is successful as long as the stack exists (even if the change set does not exist).
-    debug(`Removing existing change set with name ${changeSetName} if it exists`);
-    await cfn.deleteChangeSet({ StackName: stackName, ChangeSetName: changeSetName }).promise();
-  } else {
-    // delete the stack since creating a changeset for a stack that doesn't exist leaves that stack in a REVIEW_IN_PROGRESS state
-    // that prevents other changesets from being created, even after the changeset has been deleted.
-    debug(`Removing stack with name ${stackName}`);
-    await cfn.deleteStack({ StackName: stackName }).promise();
-  }
+export async function cleanupOldChangeset(changeSetName: string, stackName: string, cfn: CloudFormation) {
+  // Delete any existing change sets generated by CDK since change set names must be unique.
+  // The delete request is successful as long as the stack exists (even if the change set does not exist).
+  debug(`Removing existing change set with name ${changeSetName} if it exists`);
+  await cfn.deleteChangeSet({ StackName: stackName, ChangeSetName: changeSetName }).promise();
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cdk-toolkit.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cdk-toolkit.ts
index b2400366f5331..c460f72ce80c4 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cdk-toolkit.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cdk-toolkit.ts
@@ -139,20 +139,32 @@ export class CdkToolkit {
         throw new Error(`There is no file at ${options.templatePath}`);
       }
 
-      const changeSet = options.changeSet ? await createDiffChangeSet({
-        stack: stacks.firstStack,
-        uuid: uuid.v4(),
-        willExecute: false,
-        deployments: this.props.deployments,
-        sdkProvider: this.props.sdkProvider,
-        parameters: Object.assign({}, parameterMap['*'], parameterMap[stacks.firstStack.stackName]),
-        stream,
-      }) : undefined;
+      let changeSet = undefined;
+
+      if (options.changeSet) {
+        const stackExists = await this.props.deployments.stackExists({
+          stack: stacks.firstStack,
+          deployName: stacks.firstStack.stackName,
+        });
+        if (stackExists) {
+          changeSet = await createDiffChangeSet({
+            stack: stacks.firstStack,
+            uuid: uuid.v4(),
+            deployments: this.props.deployments,
+            willExecute: false,
+            sdkProvider: this.props.sdkProvider,
+            parameters: Object.assign({}, parameterMap['*'], parameterMap[stacks.firstStack.stackName]),
+            stream,
+          });
+        } else {
+          debug(`the stack '${stacks.firstStack.stackName}' has not been deployed to CloudFormation, skipping changeset creation.`);
+        }
+      }
 
       const template = deserializeStructure(await fs.readFile(options.templatePath, { encoding: 'UTF-8' }));
       diffs = options.securityOnly
         ? numberFromBool(printSecurityDiff(template, stacks.firstStack, RequireApproval.Broadening, changeSet))
-        : printStackDiff(template, stacks.firstStack.template, strict, contextLines, quiet, changeSet, stream);
+        : printStackDiff(template, stacks.firstStack.template, strict, contextLines, quiet, changeSet, false, stream);
     } else {
       // Compare N stacks against deployed templates
       for (const stack of stacks.stackArtifacts) {
@@ -171,16 +183,29 @@ export class CdkToolkit {
           removeNonImportResources(stack);
         }
 
-        const changeSet = options.changeSet ? await createDiffChangeSet({
-          stack,
-          uuid: uuid.v4(),
-          deployments: this.props.deployments,
-          willExecute: false,
-          sdkProvider: this.props.sdkProvider,
-          parameters: Object.assign({}, parameterMap['*'], parameterMap[stacks.firstStack.stackName]),
-          resourcesToImport,
-          stream,
-        }) : undefined;
+        let changeSet = undefined;
+
+        if (options.changeSet) {
+          // only perform this check if we're going to make a changeset. This check requires permissions that --no-changeset users might not have.
+          const stackExists = await this.props.deployments.stackExists({
+            stack: stack,
+            deployName: stack.stackName,
+          });
+          if (stackExists) {
+            changeSet = await createDiffChangeSet({
+              stack,
+              uuid: uuid.v4(),
+              deployments: this.props.deployments,
+              willExecute: false,
+              sdkProvider: this.props.sdkProvider,
+              parameters: Object.assign({}, parameterMap['*'], parameterMap[stack.stackName]),
+              resourcesToImport,
+              stream,
+            });
+          } else {
+            debug(`the stack '${stack.stackName}' has not been deployed to CloudFormation, skipping changeset creation.`);
+          }
+        }
 
         if (resourcesToImport) {
           stream.write('Parameters and rules created during migration do not affect resource configuration.\n');
@@ -189,7 +214,7 @@ export class CdkToolkit {
         const stackCount =
         options.securityOnly
           ? (numberFromBool(printSecurityDiff(currentTemplate, stack, RequireApproval.Broadening, changeSet)))
-          : (printStackDiff(currentTemplate, stack, strict, contextLines, quiet, changeSet, stream, nestedStacks));
+          : (printStackDiff(currentTemplate, stack, strict, contextLines, quiet, changeSet, !!resourcesToImport, stream, nestedStacks));
 
         diffs += stackCount;
       }
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/diff.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/diff.ts
index ce9c64eb4b443..cc5cb3d3567fa 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/diff.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/diff.ts
@@ -25,10 +25,11 @@ export function printStackDiff(
   context: number,
   quiet: boolean,
   changeSet?: CloudFormation.DescribeChangeSetOutput,
+  isImport?: boolean,
   stream: cfnDiff.FormatStream = process.stderr,
   nestedStackTemplates?: { [nestedStackLogicalId: string]: NestedStackTemplates }): number {
 
-  let diff = cfnDiff.fullDiff(oldTemplate, newTemplate.template, changeSet);
+  let diff = cfnDiff.fullDiff(oldTemplate, newTemplate.template, changeSet, isImport);
 
   // detect and filter out mangled characters from the diff
   let filteredChangesCount = 0;
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ export function printStackDiff(
       context,
       quiet,
       undefined,
+      isImport,
       stream,
       nestedStack.nestedStackTemplates,
     );
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/test/diff.test.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/test/diff.test.ts
index 8dd11bb0b5fce..e120103390087 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/test/diff.test.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/test/diff.test.ts
@@ -94,9 +94,10 @@ describe('imports', () => {
     fs.rmSync('migrate.json');
   });
 
-  test('imports', async () => {
+  test('imports render correctly for a nonexistant stack without creating a changeset', async () => {
     // GIVEN
     const buffer = new StringWritable();
+    cloudFormation.stackExists = jest.fn().mockReturnValue(Promise.resolve(false));
 
     // WHEN
     const exitCode = await toolkit.diff({
@@ -107,6 +108,34 @@ describe('imports', () => {
 
     // THEN
     const plainTextOutput = buffer.data.replace(/\x1B\[[0-?]*[ -/]*[@-~]/g, '');
+    expect(cfn.createDiffChangeSet).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(plainTextOutput).toContain(`Stack A
+Parameters and rules created during migration do not affect resource configuration.
+Resources
+[←] AWS::SQS::Queue Queue import
+[←] AWS::SQS::Queue Queue2 import
+[←] AWS::S3::Bucket Bucket import
+`);
+
+    expect(buffer.data.trim()).toContain('✨  Number of stacks with differences: 1');
+    expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  test('imports render correctly for an existing stack and diff creates a changeset', async () => {
+    // GIVEN
+    const buffer = new StringWritable();
+    cloudFormation.stackExists = jest.fn().mockReturnValue(Promise.resolve(true));
+
+    // WHEN
+    const exitCode = await toolkit.diff({
+      stackNames: ['A'],
+      stream: buffer,
+      changeSet: true,
+    });
+
+    // THEN
+    const plainTextOutput = buffer.data.replace(/\x1B\[[0-?]*[ -/]*[@-~]/g, '');
+    expect(cfn.createDiffChangeSet).toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(plainTextOutput).toContain(`Stack A
 Parameters and rules created during migration do not affect resource configuration.
 Resources
@@ -306,6 +335,24 @@ describe('non-nested stacks', () => {
     expect(buffer.data.trim()).not.toContain('There were no differences');
     expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
   });
+
+  test('diff does not check for stack existence when --no-changeset is passed', async () => {
+    // GIVEN
+    const buffer = new StringWritable();
+
+    // WHEN
+    const exitCode = await toolkit.diff({
+      stackNames: ['A', 'A'],
+      stream: buffer,
+      fail: false,
+      quiet: true,
+      changeSet: false,
+    });
+
+    // THEN
+    expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(cloudFormation.stackExists).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
 });
 
 describe('nested stacks', () => {