diff --git a/cmd/kubectl/BUILD b/cmd/kubectl/BUILD
index 9c703ea065e..ea75a05546a 100644
--- a/cmd/kubectl/BUILD
+++ b/cmd/kubectl/BUILD
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ load(
     "go_binary",
     "go_library",
 )
-load("//pkg/kubectl/version:def.bzl", "version_x_defs")
+load("//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version:def.bzl", "version_x_defs")
 
 go_binary(
     name = "kubectl",
diff --git a/hack/lib/version.sh b/hack/lib/version.sh
index df71e649ced..d17a251b671 100644
--- a/hack/lib/version.sh
+++ b/hack/lib/version.sh
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ kube::version::ldflags() {
     ldflags+=(
       "-X '${KUBE_GO_PACKAGE}/pkg/version.${key}=${val}'"
       "-X '${KUBE_GO_PACKAGE}/vendor/k8s.io/client-go/pkg/version.${key}=${val}'"
-      "-X '${KUBE_GO_PACKAGE}/pkg/kubectl/version.${key}=${val}'"
+      "-X '${KUBE_GO_PACKAGE}/vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version.${key}=${val}'"
       "-X '${KUBE_GO_PACKAGE}/cmd/kubeadm/app/version.${key}=${val}'"
     )
   }
diff --git a/hack/print-workspace-status.sh b/hack/print-workspace-status.sh
index fb1d8a5bb96..d4e415baa60 100755
--- a/hack/print-workspace-status.sh
+++ b/hack/print-workspace-status.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ kube::version::get_version_vars
 # Stamped rules will be retriggered by changes to stable-status.txt, but not by
 # changes to volatile-status.txt.
 # IMPORTANT: the camelCase vars should match the lists in hack/lib/version.sh
-# and pkg/version/def.bzl.
+# and staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/def.bzl.
 cat <<EOF
 STABLE_BUILD_GIT_COMMIT ${KUBE_GIT_COMMIT-}
 STABLE_BUILD_SCM_STATUS ${KUBE_GIT_TREE_STATE-}
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/BUILD b/pkg/kubectl/BUILD
index a189c264bc9..402329ad49d 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/BUILD
@@ -91,7 +91,6 @@ filegroup(
         "//pkg/kubectl/polymorphichelpers:all-srcs",
         "//pkg/kubectl/proxy:all-srcs",
         "//pkg/kubectl/util:all-srcs",
-        "//pkg/kubectl/version:all-srcs",
     ],
     tags = ["automanaged"],
 )
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/BUILD b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/BUILD
index 7f2c10595b9..2070143e888 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/BUILD
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ go_library(
     deps = [
         "//pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/openapi:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/openapi/validation:go_default_library",
-        "//pkg/kubectl/version:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/api/core/v1:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta:go_default_library",
@@ -37,6 +36,7 @@ go_library(
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/scheme:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/templates:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/validation:go_default_library",
+        "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/evanphx/json-patch:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/spf13/cobra:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/spf13/pflag:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/kubectl_match_version.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/kubectl_match_version.go
index 075682e0480..0c3f6e04917 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/kubectl_match_version.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/kubectl_match_version.go
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/scheme"
 
 	"k8s.io/cli-runtime/pkg/genericclioptions"
-	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/version"
+	"k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version"
 )
 
 const (
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/BUILD b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/BUILD
index a1f18baf91d..50f53087944 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/BUILD
@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@ go_library(
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
     deps = [
         "//pkg/kubectl/cmd/util:go_default_library",
-        "//pkg/kubectl/version:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/version:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/cli-runtime/pkg/genericclioptions:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/discovery:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/i18n:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/templates:go_default_library",
+        "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/spf13/cobra:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/sigs.k8s.io/yaml:go_default_library",
     ],
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/version.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/version.go
index 5f0c59adc30..4ecce6200dd 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/version.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/version.go
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd"
 	"k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/i18n"
 	"k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/templates"
+	"k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version"
 	cmdutil "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util"
-	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/version"
 )
 
 // Version is a struct for version information
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/BUILD b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/BUILD
index 71cc083e30a..3d4870bac1d 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/BUILD
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/BUILD
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ filegroup(
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/scheme:all-srcs",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util:all-srcs",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/validation:all-srcs",
+        "//staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version:all-srcs",
     ],
     tags = ["automanaged"],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/version/BUILD b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/BUILD
similarity index 82%
rename from pkg/kubectl/version/BUILD
rename to staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/BUILD
index 0bcba99002f..04ea16bc1cb 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/version/BUILD
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/BUILD
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ go_library(
         "base.go",
         "version.go",
     ],
-    importpath = "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/version",
+    importmap = "k8s.io/kubernetes/vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version",
+    importpath = "k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version",
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
     deps = ["//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/version:go_default_library"],
 )
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/version/base.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/base.go
similarity index 100%
rename from pkg/kubectl/version/base.go
rename to staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/base.go
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/version/def.bzl b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/def.bzl
similarity index 95%
rename from pkg/kubectl/version/def.bzl
rename to staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/def.bzl
index 5bb17a0d00d..8ca2ca79233 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/version/def.bzl
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/def.bzl
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 #   go install ... -ldflags -X 'k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version.gitMinor=12+' ...
 def version_x_defs():
     stamp_pkgs = [
-        "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/version",
+        "k8s.io/kubernetes/vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version",
     ]
 
     # This should match the list of vars in kube::version::ldflags
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/version/version.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/version.go
similarity index 100%
rename from pkg/kubectl/version/version.go
rename to staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version/version.go
diff --git a/vendor/modules.txt b/vendor/modules.txt
index 39763a35095..98a0f813286 100644
--- a/vendor/modules.txt
+++ b/vendor/modules.txt
@@ -1665,6 +1665,7 @@ k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/storage
 k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/templates
 k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/term
 k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/validation
+k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/version
 # k8s.io/kubelet v0.0.0 => ./staging/src/k8s.io/kubelet
 k8s.io/kubelet/config/v1beta1
 # k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers v0.0.0 => ./staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers