diff --git a/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-migrate/MigrateCommand.cs b/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-migrate/MigrateCommand.cs
index 900cb6567..cc5086ab2 100644
--- a/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-migrate/MigrateCommand.cs
+++ b/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-migrate/MigrateCommand.cs
@@ -195,21 +195,24 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Migrate
             else if (projectArg.EndsWith(GlobalSettings.FileName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
             {
                 projects =  GetProjectsFromGlobalJson(projectArg);
+                if (!projects.Any())
+                {
+                    throw new Exception("Unable to find any projects in global.json");
+                }
             }
             else if (Directory.Exists(projectArg))
             {
                 projects = Directory.EnumerateFiles(projectArg, Project.FileName, SearchOption.AllDirectories);
+                if (!projects.Any())
+                {
+                    throw new Exception($"No project.json file found in '{projectArg}'");
+                }
             }
             else
             {
                 throw new Exception($"Invalid project argument - '{projectArg}' is not a project.json or a global.json file and a directory named '{projectArg}' doesn't exist.");
             }
-
-            if (!projects.Any())
-            {
-                throw new Exception($"Invalid project argument - Unable to find any projects in global.json or directory '{projectArg}'");
-            }
-
+            
             foreach(var project in projects)
             {
                 yield return GetProjectJsonPath(project);
diff --git a/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-migrate/Program.cs b/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-migrate/Program.cs
index a60660ab8..9e5b6b84b 100644
--- a/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-migrate/Program.cs
+++ b/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-migrate/Program.cs
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Migrate
 #else
                 Reporter.Error.WriteLine(ex.Message);
 #endif
+                Reporter.Error.WriteLine("Migration failed.");
                 return 1;
             }
         }
diff --git a/test/dotnet-migrate.Tests/GivenThatIWantToMigrateTestApps.cs b/test/dotnet-migrate.Tests/GivenThatIWantToMigrateTestApps.cs
index 0d0ff8cdd..f70322703 100644
--- a/test/dotnet-migrate.Tests/GivenThatIWantToMigrateTestApps.cs
+++ b/test/dotnet-migrate.Tests/GivenThatIWantToMigrateTestApps.cs
@@ -268,8 +268,54 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Migration.Tests
             outputsIdentical.Should().BeTrue();
             VerifyAllMSBuildOutputsRunnable(projectDirectory);
          }
+        
+        [Theory]
+        // https://github.com/dotnet/cli/issues/4313
+        [InlineData(true)]
+        [InlineData(false)]
+        public void Migration_outputs_error_when_no_projects_found(bool useGlobalJson)
+        {
+            var projectDirectory = TestAssetsManager.CreateTestDirectory("Migration_outputs_error_when_no_projects_found");
 
-         private void VerifyMigration(IEnumerable<string> expectedProjects, string rootDir)
+            string argstr = string.Empty;
+            string errorMessage = string.Empty;
+
+            if (useGlobalJson)
+            {
+                var globalJsonPath = Path.Combine(projectDirectory.Path, "global.json");
+                using (FileStream fs = File.Create(globalJsonPath))
+                {
+                    using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(fs))
+                    {
+                        sw.WriteLine("{");
+                        sw.WriteLine("\"projects\": [ \".\" ]");
+                        sw.WriteLine("}");
+                    }
+                }
+
+                argstr = globalJsonPath;
+                errorMessage = "Unable to find any projects in global.json";
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                argstr = projectDirectory.Path;
+                errorMessage = $"No project.json file found in '{projectDirectory.Path}'";
+            }
+
+            var result = new TestCommand("dotnet")
+                .WithWorkingDirectory(projectDirectory.Path)
+                .ExecuteWithCapturedOutput($"migrate {argstr}");
+
+            // Expecting an error exit code.
+            result.ExitCode.Should().Be(1);
+
+            // Verify the error messages. Note that debug builds also show the call stack, so we search
+            // for the error strings that should be present (rather than an exact match).
+            result.StdErr.Should().Contain(errorMessage);
+            result.StdErr.Should().Contain("Migration failed.");
+        }
+        
+        private void VerifyMigration(IEnumerable<string> expectedProjects, string rootDir)
          {
              var migratedProjects = Directory.EnumerateFiles(rootDir, "project.json", SearchOption.AllDirectories)
                                              .Where(s => Directory.EnumerateFiles(Path.GetDirectoryName(s), "*.csproj").Count() == 1)