diff --git a/api.js b/api.js
index f8e8937e8..f583cc642 100644
--- a/api.js
+++ b/api.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ var figures = require('figures');
 var globby = require('globby');
 var chalk = require('chalk');
 var fork = require('./lib/fork');
+var resolveCwd = require('resolve-cwd');
 var formatter = require('./lib/enhance-assert').formatter();
 
 function Api(files, options) {
@@ -20,6 +21,8 @@ function Api(files, options) {
 
 	this.options = options || {};
 
+	this.options.require = (this.options.require || []).map(resolveCwd);
+
 	this.rejectionCount = 0;
 	this.exceptionCount = 0;
 	this.passCount = 0;
diff --git a/lib/babel.js b/lib/babel.js
index a792a85c3..849bdbb77 100644
--- a/lib/babel.js
+++ b/lib/babel.js
@@ -16,10 +16,7 @@ if (debug.enabled) {
 // Bind globals first, before anything has a chance to interfere.
 var globals = require('./globals');
 
-var resolveCwd = require('resolve-cwd');
-(opts.require || []).forEach(function (moduleId) {
-	require(resolveCwd(moduleId));
-});
+(opts.require || []).forEach(require);
 
 var sourceMapCache = Object.create(null);
 
diff --git a/test/api.js b/test/api.js
index dbbf7fe43..dcf64fb20 100644
--- a/test/api.js
+++ b/test/api.js
@@ -314,9 +314,12 @@ test('test file in node_modules is ignored', function (t) {
 test('Node.js-style --require CLI argument', function (t) {
 	t.plan(1);
 
+	var requirePath = path.relative(process.cwd(), path.join(__dirname, 'fixture', 'install-global.js'));
+	requirePath = '.' + path.sep + requirePath;
+
 	var api = new Api(
 		[path.join(__dirname, 'fixture/validate-installed-global.js')],
-		{require: [path.join(__dirname, 'fixture', 'install-global.js')]}
+		{require: [requirePath]}
 	);
 
 	api.run()