diff --git a/include/ajax.tickets.php b/include/ajax.tickets.php
index 9c9a8b7d4ddde99fe406f3dcdb6d874d4f17f89c..e6c0fdb36a4aa6268f89feb437c53e713d2ce350 100644
--- a/include/ajax.tickets.php
+++ b/include/ajax.tickets.php
@@ -682,7 +682,7 @@ class TicketsAjaxAPI extends AjaxController {
                 'title' => sprintf('Change user for ticket #%s', $ticket->getNumber())
                 );
 
-        return self::_userlookup($user, $info);
+        return self::_userlookup($user, null, $info);
     }
 
     function _userlookup($user, $form, $info) {
diff --git a/include/staff/templates/user-lookup.tmpl.php b/include/staff/templates/user-lookup.tmpl.php
index eb93fab228e78baea30831ea74520402aa309d8f..caa80a41771c5b49ea7d0053bab58b100bca1179 100644
--- a/include/staff/templates/user-lookup.tmpl.php
+++ b/include/staff/templates/user-lookup.tmpl.php
@@ -89,14 +89,14 @@ $(function() {
     $('a#unselect-user').click( function(e) {
         e.preventDefault();
         $('div#selected-user-info').hide();
-        $('div#new-user-form').fadeIn();
+        $('div#new-user-form').fadeIn({start: function(){ $('#user-search').focus(); }});
         return false;
      });
 
     $(document).on('click', 'form.user input.cancel', function (e) {
         e.preventDefault();
         $('div#new-user-form').hide();
-        $('div#selected-user-info').fadeIn();
+        $('div#selected-user-info').fadeIn({start: function(){ $('#user-search').focus(); }});
         return false;
      });
 });
diff --git a/scp/js/scp.js b/scp/js/scp.js
index 84a491479d8e6ff65dd63d5dcf952585606e4cf2..594bb21c8e31b7c78dbe0795180b3ac2d3df86d1 100644
--- a/scp/js/scp.js
+++ b/scp/js/scp.js
@@ -419,11 +419,14 @@ $(document).ready(function(){
            });
      });
 
-    $.dialog = function (url, code, cb) {
-
+    $.dialog = function (url, code, cb, options) {
+        options = options||{};
         $('.dialog#popup .body').load(url, function () {
             $('#overlay').show();
-            $('.dialog#popup').show();
+            $('.dialog#popup').show({
+                duration: 0,
+                complete: function() { if (options.onshow) options.onshow(); }
+            });
             $(document).off('.dialog');
             $(document).on('submit.dialog', '.dialog#popup form', function(e) {
                 e.preventDefault();
@@ -451,12 +454,15 @@ $(document).ready(function(){
                 return false;
             });
          });
+        if (options.onload) { options.onload(); }
      };
 
     $.userLookup = function (url, cb) {
         $.dialog(url, 201, function (resp) {
             var user = $.parseJSON(resp);
             if(cb) cb(user);
+        }, {
+            onshow: function() { $('#user-search').focus(); }
         });
     };