diff --git a/integration_tests/__tests__/force_exit.test.js b/integration_tests/__tests__/force_exit.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f96b2be52d37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration_tests/__tests__/force_exit.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2014-present, Facebook, Inc. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree. An additional grant
+ * of patent rights can be found in the PATENTS file in the same directory.
+ */
+
+'use strict';
+
+import runJest from '../runJest';
+import {cleanup, extractSummary, writeFiles} from '../utils';
+import os from 'os';
+import path from 'path';
+
+const skipOnWindows = require('skipOnWindows');
+const DIR = path.resolve(os.tmpdir(), 'force_exit_test');
+
+skipOnWindows.suite();
+
+beforeEach(() => cleanup(DIR));
+afterEach(() => cleanup(DIR));
+
+test('exits the process after test are done but before timers complete', () => {
+  writeFiles(DIR, {
+    '.watchmanconfig': '',
+    '__tests__/test.test.js': `
+      test('finishes before the timer is complete', () => {
+        setTimeout(() => console.log('TIMER_DONE'), 500);
+      });
+    `,
+    'package.json': JSON.stringify({jest: {testEnvironment: 'node'}}),
+  });
+
+  let stdout;
+  ({stdout} = runJest(DIR));
+  expect(stdout).toMatch(/TIMER_DONE/);
+  writeFiles(DIR, {
+    'package.json': JSON.stringify({
+      jest: {forceExit: true, testEnvironment: 'node'},
+    }),
+  });
+
+  ({stdout} = runJest(DIR));
+  expect(stdout).not.toMatch(/TIMER_DONE/);
+});
diff --git a/packages/jest-cli/src/cli/index.js b/packages/jest-cli/src/cli/index.js
index 008522517e63..7d7eff1241bf 100644
--- a/packages/jest-cli/src/cli/index.js
+++ b/packages/jest-cli/src/cli/index.js
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ async function run(maybeArgv?: Argv, project?: Path) {
   const runCLIFn = _getRunCLIFn(projects);
 
   const {results, globalConfig} = await runCLIFn(argv, projects);
-  _readResultsAndExit(argv, results, globalConfig);
+  _readResultsAndExit(results, globalConfig);
 }
 
 const runCLI = async (
@@ -99,13 +99,12 @@ const runCLI = async (
 };
 
 const _readResultsAndExit = (
-  argv: Argv,
   result: ?AggregatedResult,
   globalConfig: GlobalConfig,
 ) => {
   const code = !result || result.success ? 0 : globalConfig.testFailureExitCode;
   process.on('exit', () => process.exit(code));
-  if (argv && argv.forceExit) {
+  if (globalConfig.forceExit) {
     process.exit(code);
   }
 };
diff --git a/packages/jest-config/src/normalize.js b/packages/jest-config/src/normalize.js
index 263a9a83868e..82315d6fe6dc 100644
--- a/packages/jest-config/src/normalize.js
+++ b/packages/jest-config/src/normalize.js
@@ -455,6 +455,7 @@ function normalize(options: InitialOptions, argv: Argv) {
       case 'coverageThreshold':
       case 'expand':
       case 'globals':
+      case 'forceExit':
       case 'listTests':
       case 'logHeapUsage':
       case 'mapCoverage':