diff --git a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/file.py b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/file.py
index 692386f779..93828df396 100644
--- a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/file.py
+++ b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/file.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 from __future__ import division
 from __future__ import print_function
+from __future__ import annotations
 
 import os
 import re