diff --git a/autoload/youcompleteme.vim b/autoload/youcompleteme.vim
index 9efa2e92..fd6f77e7 100644
--- a/autoload/youcompleteme.vim
+++ b/autoload/youcompleteme.vim
@@ -566,8 +566,7 @@ function! youcompleteme#Complete( findstart, base )
       return -2
     endif
 
-    py request = ycm_state.CreateCompletionRequest()
-    return pyeval( 'request.CompletionStartColumn()' )
+    return pyeval( 'ycm_state.CreateCompletionRequest().CompletionStartColumn()' )
   else
     return s:CompletionsForQuery( a:base )
   endif
@@ -577,8 +576,8 @@ endfunction
 function! youcompleteme#OmniComplete( findstart, base )
   if a:findstart
     let s:omnifunc_mode = 1
-    " TODO: Force semantic mode here (<c-space> needs to work)
-    return pyeval( 'ycm_state.CreateCompletionRequest().CompletionStartColumn()' )
+    py request = ycm_state.CreateCompletionRequest( force_semantic = True )
+    return pyeval( 'request.CompletionStartColumn()' )
   else
     return s:CompletionsForQuery( a:base )
   endif
diff --git a/python/ycm/client/completion_request.py b/python/ycm/client/completion_request.py
index d55ade1e..46298c54 100644
--- a/python/ycm/client/completion_request.py
+++ b/python/ycm/client/completion_request.py
@@ -24,11 +24,13 @@ from ycm.client.base_request import ( BaseRequest, BuildRequestData,
 
 
 class CompletionRequest( BaseRequest ):
-  def __init__( self ):
+  def __init__( self, force_semantic = False ):
     super( CompletionRequest, self ).__init__()
 
     self._completion_start_column = base.CompletionStartColumn()
     self._request_data = BuildRequestData( self._completion_start_column )
+    if force_semantic:
+      self._request_data[ 'force_semantic' ] = True
 
 
   def CompletionStartColumn( self ):
diff --git a/python/ycm/completers/completer.py b/python/ycm/completers/completer.py
index 99daa29b..ed068b0d 100644
--- a/python/ycm/completers/completer.py
+++ b/python/ycm/completers/completer.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 import abc
 import ycm_core
-from ycm.utils import ToUtf8IfNeeded
+from ycm.utils import ToUtf8IfNeeded, ForceSemanticCompletion
 from ycm.completers.completer_utils import TriggersForFiletype
 
 NO_USER_COMMANDS = 'This completer does not define any commands.'
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ class Completer( object ):
   # It's highly likely you DON'T want to override this function but the *Inner
   # version of it.
   def ComputeCandidates( self, request_data ):
-    if not self.ShouldUseNow( request_data ):
+    if ( not ForceSemanticCompletion( request_data ) and
+         not self.ShouldUseNow( request_data ) ):
       return []
 
     if ( request_data[ 'query' ] and
diff --git a/python/ycm/server/server_state.py b/python/ycm/server/server_state.py
index 611b062c..2e9bd9ff 100644
--- a/python/ycm/server/server_state.py
+++ b/python/ycm/server/server_state.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import imp
 import os
 from ycm import extra_conf_store
+from ycm.utils import ForceSemanticCompletion
 from ycm.completers.general.general_completer_store import GeneralCompleterStore
 
 
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ class ServerState( object ):
     except:
       return False
 
+
   def FiletypeCompletionUsable( self, filetypes ):
     return ( self.CurrentFiletypeCompletionEnabled( filetypes ) and
              self.FiletypeCompletionAvailable( filetypes ) )
@@ -97,7 +99,9 @@ class ServerState( object ):
   def ShouldUseFiletypeCompleter( self, request_data ):
     filetypes = request_data[ 'filetypes' ]
     if self.FiletypeCompletionUsable( filetypes ):
-      return self.GetFiletypeCompleter( filetypes ).ShouldUseNow( request_data )
+      return ( ForceSemanticCompletion( request_data ) or
+               self.GetFiletypeCompleter( filetypes ).ShouldUseNow(
+                 request_data ) )
     return False
 
 
diff --git a/python/ycm/server/tests/basic_test.py b/python/ycm/server/tests/basic_test.py
index b061c73c..4c1c74ac 100644
--- a/python/ycm/server/tests/basic_test.py
+++ b/python/ycm/server/tests/basic_test.py
@@ -30,16 +30,23 @@ bottle.debug( True )
 # TODO: Split this file into multiple files.
 
 # 'contents' should be just one line of text
-def RequestDataForFileWithContents( filename, contents = None ):
+def RequestDataForFileWithContents( filename,
+                                    contents = None,
+                                    filetype = None ):
   real_contents = contents if contents else ''
+  filetype_to_use = filetype or 'foo'
   return {
-    'filetypes': ['foo'],
+    'query': '',
+    'line_num': 0,
+    'column_num': 0,
+    'start_column': 0,
+    'filetypes': [ filetype_to_use ],
     'filepath': filename,
     'line_value': real_contents,
     'file_data': {
       filename: {
         'contents': real_contents,
-        'filetypes': ['foo']
+        'filetypes': [ filetype_to_use ]
       }
     }
   }
@@ -120,6 +127,22 @@ int main()
                                    CompletionEntryMatcher( 'y' ) ) )
 
 
+@with_setup( Setup )
+def GetCompletions_ForceSemantic_Works_test():
+  app = TestApp( ycmd.app )
+
+  completion_data = RequestDataForFileWithContents( 'foo.py',
+                                                    filetype = 'python' )
+  completion_data.update( {
+    'force_semantic': True,
+  } )
+
+  results = app.post_json( '/completions', completion_data ).json
+  assert_that( results, has_items( CompletionEntryMatcher( 'abs' ),
+                                   CompletionEntryMatcher( 'open' ),
+                                   CompletionEntryMatcher( 'bool' ) ) )
+
+
 @with_setup( Setup )
 def GetCompletions_IdentifierCompleter_SyntaxKeywordsAdded_test():
   app = TestApp( ycmd.app )
diff --git a/python/ycm/utils.py b/python/ycm/utils.py
index ec63afc2..28fa7d05 100644
--- a/python/ycm/utils.py
+++ b/python/ycm/utils.py
@@ -77,3 +77,8 @@ def Memoize( obj ):
       cache[ key ] = obj( *args, **kwargs )
     return cache[ key ]
   return memoizer
+
+
+def ForceSemanticCompletion( request_data ):
+  return ( 'force_semantic' in request_data and
+           bool( request_data[ 'force_semantic' ] ) )
diff --git a/python/ycm/youcompleteme.py b/python/ycm/youcompleteme.py
index 2fd1adf5..e424cd5e 100644
--- a/python/ycm/youcompleteme.py
+++ b/python/ycm/youcompleteme.py
@@ -89,11 +89,11 @@ class YouCompleteMe( object ):
                                                    shell = True )
 
 
-  def CreateCompletionRequest( self ):
+  def CreateCompletionRequest( self, force_semantic = False ):
     # We have to store a reference to the newly created CompletionRequest
     # because VimScript can't store a reference to a Python object across
     # function calls... Thus we need to keep this request somewhere.
-    self._latest_completion_request = CompletionRequest()
+    self._latest_completion_request = CompletionRequest( force_semantic )
     return self._latest_completion_request