diff --git a/ceilometer/storage/sqlalchemy/migration.py b/ceilometer/storage/sqlalchemy/migration.py
index 2651e4a4..8973a4b9 100644
--- a/ceilometer/storage/sqlalchemy/migration.py
+++ b/ceilometer/storage/sqlalchemy/migration.py
@@ -15,49 +15,15 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-import distutils.version as dist_version
 import os
 
 import alembic
 from alembic import config as alembic_config
 
-import migrate
-from migrate.versioning import util as migrate_util
-import sqlalchemy
-
-from ceilometer.openstack.common import log
-
-
-INIT_VERSION = 1
-LOG = log.getLogger(__name__)
-
-
-@migrate_util.decorator
-def patched_with_engine(f, *a, **kw):
-    url = a[0]
-    engine = migrate_util.construct_engine(url, **kw)
-
-    try:
-        kw['engine'] = engine
-        return f(*a, **kw)
-    finally:
-        if isinstance(engine, migrate_util.Engine) and engine is not url:
-            migrate_util.log.debug('Disposing SQLAlchemy engine %s', engine)
-            engine.dispose()
-
-
-# TODO(jkoelker) When migrate 0.7.3 is released and nova depends
-#                on that version or higher, this can be removed
-MIN_PKG_VERSION = dist_version.StrictVersion('0.7.3')
-if (not hasattr(migrate, '__version__')
-        or dist_version.StrictVersion(migrate.__version__) < MIN_PKG_VERSION):
-    migrate_util.with_engine = patched_with_engine
-
-
-# NOTE(jkoelker) Delay importing migrate until we are patched
 from migrate import exceptions as versioning_exceptions
 from migrate.versioning import api as versioning_api
 from migrate.versioning.repository import Repository
+import sqlalchemy
 
 _REPOSITORY = None
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 106aeeea..15300dda 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ kombu>=2.4.8
 iso8601>=0.1.8
 argparse
 SQLAlchemy>=0.7.8,<=0.7.99
-sqlalchemy-migrate>=0.7.2
+sqlalchemy-migrate>=0.8.2
 alembic>=0.4.1
 netaddr>=0.7.6
 pymongo>=2.4