diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gitlab4j/api/RepositoryFileApi.java b/src/main/java/org/gitlab4j/api/RepositoryFileApi.java
index 4fd5e6e3b..812b495b0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gitlab4j/api/RepositoryFileApi.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gitlab4j/api/RepositoryFileApi.java
@@ -451,6 +451,7 @@ protected Form createForm(RepositoryFile file, String branchName, String commitM
         } else {
             addFormParam(form, "branch", branchName, true);
         }
+        addFormParam(form, "start_branch", file.getRef(), false);
 
         addFormParam(form, "encoding", file.getEncoding(), false);
 
@@ -515,4 +516,4 @@ public Pager<Blame> getBlame(Object projectIdOrPath, String filePath, String ref
     public Stream<Blame> getBlameStream(Object projectIdOrPath, String filePath, String ref) throws GitLabApiException {
        return (getBlame(projectIdOrPath, filePath, ref, getDefaultPerPage()).stream());
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}