diff --git a/lib/internal/url.js b/lib/internal/url.js
index 21c7c734b58475..8c83ca86c3fb98 100644
--- a/lib/internal/url.js
+++ b/lib/internal/url.js
@@ -319,8 +319,7 @@ class URL {
   constructor(input, base) {
     // toUSVString is not needed.
     input = `${input}`;
-    if (base !== undefined &&
-        (!base[searchParams] || !base[searchParams][searchParams])) {
+    if (base !== undefined) {
       base = new URL(base);
     }
     parse(this, input, base);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-whatwg-url-parsing.js b/test/parallel/test-whatwg-url-parsing.js
index 928ac5d6a6c658..fd34fee1954d8c 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-whatwg-url-parsing.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-whatwg-url-parsing.js
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ const failureTests = tests.filter((test) => test.failure).concat([
   { input: null },
   { input: new Date() },
   { input: new RegExp() },
+  { input: 'test', base: null },
+  { input: 'http://nodejs.org', base: null },
   { input: () => {} }
 ]);