diff --git a/lib/document_parser.rb b/lib/document_parser.rb
index 60ebd9d59..7fd4cc92f 100644
--- a/lib/document_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/document_parser.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 module DocumentParser
   def get_document_number_variants(document_type, document_number)
+    return [] if document_number.blank?
+
     # Delete all non-alphanumerics
     document_number = document_number.to_s.gsub(/[^0-9A-Za-z]/i, "")
     variants = []
diff --git a/spec/lib/document_parser_spec.rb b/spec/lib/document_parser_spec.rb
index d44f8c5f0..476f3e2ee 100644
--- a/spec/lib/document_parser_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/document_parser_spec.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@ include DocumentParser
 
 describe DocumentParser do
   describe "#get_document_number_variants" do
+    it "returns no variants when document_number is not defined" do
+      expect(DocumentParser.get_document_number_variants("1", "")).to be_empty
+    end
+
     it "trims and cleans up entry" do
       expect(DocumentParser.get_document_number_variants(2, "  1 2@ 34")).to eq(["1234"])
     end