diff --git a/cmd/get_imports.go b/cmd/get_imports.go
index 27b1eec6..662cd303 100644
--- a/cmd/get_imports.go
+++ b/cmd/get_imports.go
@@ -258,6 +258,29 @@ func VcsUpdate(dep *Dependency, vend string, force bool) error {
 			} else if err != nil {
 				return err
 			} else {
+				// Check if the current version is a tag or commit id. If it is
+				// and that version is already checked out we can skip updating
+				// which is faster than going out to the Internet to perform
+				// an update.
+				if dep.Reference != "" {
+					version, err := repo.Version()
+					if err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+					ib, err := isBranch(dep.Reference, repo)
+					if err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+
+					// If the current version equals the ref and it's not a
+					// branch it's a tag or commit id so we can skip
+					// performing an update.
+					if version == dep.Reference && !ib {
+						Info("%s is already set to version %s. Skipping update.", dep.Name, dep.Reference)
+						return nil
+					}
+				}
+
 				if err := repo.Update(); err != nil {
 					Warn("Download failed.\n")
 					return err
diff --git a/cmd/semver.go b/cmd/semver.go
index c922a17e..3853ff2b 100644
--- a/cmd/semver.go
+++ b/cmd/semver.go
@@ -58,6 +58,19 @@ func getAllVcsRefs(repo vcs.Repo) ([]string, error) {
 	return refs, nil
 }
 
+func isBranch(branch string, repo vcs.Repo) (bool, error) {
+	branches, err := repo.Branches()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+	for _, b := range branches {
+		if b == branch {
+			return true, nil
+		}
+	}
+	return false, nil
+}
+
 // From the refs find all of the ones fitting the SemVer pattern.
 // func findSemVerRefs(refs []string) ([]string, error) {
 //