diff --git a/Lib/test/test_importlib/fixtures.py b/Lib/test/test_importlib/fixtures.py
index 2e55d14b9aab97..524ac6c2a9c949 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_importlib/fixtures.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_importlib/fixtures.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import tempfile
 import textwrap
 import contextlib
+import unittest
 
 
 @contextlib.contextmanager
@@ -175,6 +176,9 @@ def setUp(self):
         self.fixtures.enter_context(tempdir_as_cwd())
         build_files(self.files)
 
+    def skip(self, reason):
+        raise unittest.SkipTest(reason)
+
 
 def build_files(file_defs, prefix=pathlib.Path()):
     """Build a set of files/directories, as described by the
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2021-02-21-11-11-53.bpo-43288.LfTvL-.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2021-02-21-11-11-53.bpo-43288.LfTvL-.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..8463540ae8a14c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2021-02-21-11-11-53.bpo-43288.LfTvL-.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix test_importlib to correctly skip Unicode file tests if the fileystem
+does not support them.