diff --git a/lib/gitlab/visibility_level.rb b/lib/gitlab/visibility_level.rb
index 2248763c10670b129723a022fba913260e890861..8f1d1fdc02eddd9e52d3e83a260aa0f8077b0142 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/visibility_level.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/visibility_level.rb
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ module Gitlab
       end
 
       def level_value(level)
-        return string_options[level] if level.is_a? String
-        level
+        return level.to_i if level.to_i.to_s == level.to_s && string_options.key(level.to_i)
+        string_options[level] || PRIVATE
       end
 
       def string_level(level)
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/visibility_level_spec.rb b/spec/lib/gitlab/visibility_level_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3255c6f1ef73dc762d723a1a5e13c297db4d55f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/visibility_level_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe Gitlab::VisibilityLevel, lib: true do
+  describe '.level_value' do
+    it 'converts "public" to integer value' do
+      expect(described_class.level_value('public')).to eq(Gitlab::VisibilityLevel::PUBLIC)
+    end
+
+    it 'converts string integer to integer value' do
+      expect(described_class.level_value('20')).to eq(20)
+    end
+
+    it 'defaults to PRIVATE when string value is not valid' do
+      expect(described_class.level_value('invalid')).to eq(Gitlab::VisibilityLevel::PRIVATE)
+    end
+
+    it 'defaults to PRIVATE when integer value is not valid' do
+      expect(described_class.level_value(100)).to eq(Gitlab::VisibilityLevel::PRIVATE)
+    end
+  end
+end