diff --git a/src/urllib3/request.py b/src/urllib3/request.py
index 398386a5b9..3b4cf99922 100644
--- a/src/urllib3/request.py
+++ b/src/urllib3/request.py
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
+import sys
+
 from .filepost import encode_multipart_formdata
+from .packages import six
 from .packages.six.moves.urllib.parse import urlencode
 
 __all__ = ["RequestMethods"]
@@ -168,3 +171,21 @@ def request_encode_body(
         extra_kw.update(urlopen_kw)
 
         return self.urlopen(method, url, **extra_kw)
+
+
+if not six.PY2:
+
+    class RequestModule(sys.modules[__name__].__class__):
+        def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            """
+            If user tries to call this module directly urllib3 v2.x style raise an error to the user
+            suggesting they may need urllib3 v2
+            """
+            raise TypeError(
+                "'module' object is not callable\n"
+                "urllib3.request() method is not supported in this release, "
+                "upgrade to urllib3 v2 to use it\n"
+                "see https://urllib3.readthedocs.io/en/stable/v2-migration-guide.html"
+            )
+
+    sys.modules[__name__].__class__ = RequestModule
diff --git a/test/test_request.py b/test/test_request.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1db819dc28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_request.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import types
+
+import pytest
+
+import urllib3
+from urllib3.packages import six
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    six.PY2,
+    reason="This behaviour isn't added when running urllib3 in Python 2",
+)
+class TestRequestImport(object):
+    def test_request_import_error(self):
+        """Ensure an appropriate error is raised to the user
+        if they try and run urllib3.request()"""
+        with pytest.raises(TypeError) as exc_info:
+            urllib3.request(1, a=2)
+        assert "urllib3 v2" in exc_info.value.args[0]
+
+    def test_request_module_properties(self):
+        """Ensure properties of the overridden request module
+        are still present"""
+        assert isinstance(urllib3.request, types.ModuleType)
+        expected_attrs = {"RequestMethods", "encode_multipart_formdata", "urlencode"}
+        assert set(dir(urllib3.request)).issuperset(expected_attrs)