diff --git a/inst/tests/tests.Rraw b/inst/tests/tests.Rraw
index 099726a96..80f50f66b 100644
--- a/inst/tests/tests.Rraw
+++ b/inst/tests/tests.Rraw
@@ -18856,3 +18856,7 @@ x = data.table(a = 1L, b = as.Date("2020-01-01"))
 y = data.table(a = 2L, b = NA)
 test(2239.23, merge(x, y, by="a", all=TRUE), data.table(a=1:2, b.x=as.Date(c("2020-01-01", NA)), b.y=NA, key="a"))
 test(2239.24, merge(y, x, by="a", all=TRUE), data.table(a=1:2, b.x=NA, key="a", b.y=as.Date(c("2020-01-01", NA))))
+x = data.table(a = 1L, b=I(3L))
+y = data.table(a = 2L, b=NA)
+test(2239.25, rbind(x,y), data.table(a = c(1L, 2L), b=I(c(3L, NA))))
+test(2239.26, rbind(y,x), data.table(a = c(2L, 1L), b=c(NA, 3L)))
diff --git a/src/data.table.h b/src/data.table.h
index b966e86c0..2068d4570 100644
--- a/src/data.table.h
+++ b/src/data.table.h
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ extern SEXP char_datatable;
 extern SEXP char_dataframe;
 extern SEXP char_NULL;
 extern SEXP char_maxString;
+extern SEXP char_AsIs;
 extern SEXP sym_sorted;
 extern SEXP sym_index;
 extern SEXP sym_BY;
diff --git a/src/init.c b/src/init.c
index 284c30b4f..ae2c68243 100644
--- a/src/init.c
+++ b/src/init.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ SEXP char_datatable;
 SEXP char_dataframe;
 SEXP char_NULL;
 SEXP char_maxString;
+SEXP char_AsIs;
 SEXP sym_sorted;
 SEXP sym_index;
 SEXP sym_BY;
@@ -348,6 +349,7 @@ void attribute_visible R_init_data_table(DllInfo *info)
   char_dataframe = PRINTNAME(install("data.frame"));
   char_NULL =      PRINTNAME(install("NULL"));
   char_maxString = PRINTNAME(install("\xFF\xFF\xFF\xFF\xFF\xFF\xFF\xFF"));
+  char_AsIs =      PRINTNAME(install("AsIs"));
 
   if (TYPEOF(char_integer64) != CHARSXP) {
     // checking one is enough in case of any R-devel changes
diff --git a/src/rbindlist.c b/src/rbindlist.c
index a5d994926..20218c3e2 100644
--- a/src/rbindlist.c
+++ b/src/rbindlist.c
@@ -274,10 +274,7 @@ SEXP rbindlist(SEXP l, SEXP usenamesArg, SEXP fillArg, SEXP idcolArg)
     bool factor=false, orderedFactor=false;     // ordered factor is class c("ordered","factor"). isFactor() is true when isOrdered() is true.
     int longestLen=-1, longestW=-1, longestI=-1; // just for ordered factor; longestLen must be initialized as -1 so that rbind zero-length ordered factor could work #4795
     SEXP longestLevels=R_NilValue;              // just for ordered factor
-    bool int64=false;
-    bool date=false;
-    bool posixct=false;
-    bool itime=false;
+    bool int64=false, date=false, posixct=false, itime=false, asis=false;
     const char *foundName=NULL;
     bool anyNotStringOrFactor=false;
     SEXP firstCol=R_NilValue;
@@ -317,10 +314,12 @@ SEXP rbindlist(SEXP l, SEXP usenamesArg, SEXP fillArg, SEXP idcolArg)
       } else if (INHERITS(thisCol, char_ITime)) {
         if (firsti>=0 && !length(getAttrib(firstCol, R_ClassSymbol))) { firsti=i; firstw=w; firstCol=thisCol; }
         itime=true;
+      } else if (!asis && INHERITS(thisCol, char_AsIs)) {
+        asis=true;
       }
       if (firsti==-1) { firsti=i; firstw=w; firstCol=thisCol; }
       else {
-        if (!factor && !int64 && ((!date && !posixct) || (date && posixct)) && !itime) { // prohibit binding of date and posixct
+        if (!factor && !int64 && ((!date && !posixct) || (date && posixct)) && !itime &!asis) { // prohibit binding of date and posixct
           if (!R_compute_identical(PROTECT(getAttrib(thisCol, R_ClassSymbol)),
                                    PROTECT(getAttrib(firstCol, R_ClassSymbol)),
                                    0)) {