diff --git a/nipype/interfaces/freesurfer/preprocess.py b/nipype/interfaces/freesurfer/preprocess.py
index 78b7fcc7ab..70af43b598 100644
--- a/nipype/interfaces/freesurfer/preprocess.py
+++ b/nipype/interfaces/freesurfer/preprocess.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 
 # Keeping this to avoid breaking external programs that depend on it, but
 # this should not be used internally
-FSVersion = Info.looseversion()
+FSVersion = Info.looseversion().vstring
 
 
 class ParseDICOMDirInputSpec(FSTraitedSpec):
diff --git a/nipype/interfaces/freesurfer/tests/test_preprocess.py b/nipype/interfaces/freesurfer/tests/test_preprocess.py
index 05cc5d29c3..2d5e8cfb44 100644
--- a/nipype/interfaces/freesurfer/tests/test_preprocess.py
+++ b/nipype/interfaces/freesurfer/tests/test_preprocess.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 # emacs: -*- mode: python; py-indent-offset: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil -*-
 # vi: set ft=python sts=4 ts=4 sw=4 et:
+from builtins import str
 import os
 
 import pytest
@@ -154,3 +155,9 @@ def test_bbregister(create_files_in_directory):
                            '--reg {base}_bbreg_fsaverage.dat '
                            '--mov {full} --s fsaverage'.format(
                             full=filelist[0], base=base))
+
+def test_FSVersion():
+    """Check that FSVersion is a string that can be compared with LooseVersion
+    """
+    assert isinstance(freesurfer.preprocess.FSVersion, str)
+    assert LooseVersion(freesurfer.preprocess.FSVersion) >= LooseVersion("0")