diff --git a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_bo.inc.php b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_bo.inc.php
index 5f7c8cee66..3bd2fe23a9 100755
--- a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_bo.inc.php
+++ b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_bo.inc.php
@@ -1505,12 +1505,39 @@ class addressbook_bo extends addressbook_so
 
 	var $categories;
 
-	function find_or_add_categories($catname_list)
+	/**
+	 * Find existing categories in database by name or add categories that do not exist yet
+	 * currently used for vcard import
+	 *
+	 * @param array $catname_list names of the categories which should be found or added
+	 * @param int $contact_id=null match against existing contact and expand the returned category ids
+	 *  by the ones the user normally does not see due to category permissions - used to preserve categories
+	 * @return array category ids (found, added and preserved categories)
+	 */
+	function find_or_add_categories($catname_list, $contact_id=null)
 	{
 		if (!is_object($this->categories))
 		{
 			$this->categories = new categories($this->owner,'addressbook');
 		}
+		
+		if($contact_id)
+		{
+			// preserve categories without users read access
+			$old_contact = $this->read($contact_id);
+			$old_categories = explode(',',$old_contact['cat_id']);
+			$old_cats_preserve = array();
+			if(is_array($old_categories) && count($old_categories) > 0)
+			{
+				foreach($old_categories as $cat_id)
+				{
+					if(!$this->categories->check_perms(EGW_ACL_READ, $cat_id))
+					{
+						$old_cats_preserve[] = $cat_id;
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
 
 		$cat_id_list = array();
 		foreach($catname_list as $cat_name)
@@ -1533,12 +1560,18 @@ class addressbook_bo extends addressbook_so
 				$cat_id_list[] = $cat_id;
 			}
 		}
+		
+		if(is_array($old_cats_preserve) && count($old_cats_preserve) > 0)
+		{
+			$cat_id_list = array_merge($cat_id_list, $old_cats_preserve);
+		}
 
 		if (count($cat_id_list) > 1)
 		{
 			$cat_id_list = array_unique($cat_id_list);
 			sort($cat_id_list, SORT_NUMERIC);
 		}
+
 		return $cat_id_list;
 	}
 
@@ -1556,7 +1589,8 @@ class addressbook_bo extends addressbook_so
 		$cat_list = array();
 		foreach($cat_id_list as $cat_id)
 		{
-			if ($cat_id && ($cat_name = $this->categories->id2name($cat_id)) && $cat_name != '--')
+			if ($cat_id && $this->categories->check_perms(EGW_ACL_READ, $cat_id) && 
+					($cat_name = $this->categories->id2name($cat_id)) && $cat_name != '--')
 			{
 				$cat_list[] = $cat_name;
 			}
diff --git a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_vcal.inc.php b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_vcal.inc.php
index 987ecf865d..46dbb3ace6 100644
--- a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_vcal.inc.php
+++ b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_vcal.inc.php
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ class addressbook_vcal extends addressbook_bo
 	*/
 	function addVCard($_vcard, $_abID=null, $merge=false)
 	{
-		if(!$contact = $this->vcardtoegw($_vcard))
+		if(!$contact = $this->vcardtoegw($_vcard, $_abID))
 		{
 			return false;
 		}
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ class addressbook_vcal extends addressbook_bo
 		if (is_array($_supportedFields)) $this->supportedFields = $_supportedFields;
 	}
 
-	function vcardtoegw($_vcard)
+	function vcardtoegw($_vcard, $_abID)
 	{
 		// the horde class does the charset conversion. DO NOT CONVERT HERE.
 		// be as flexible as possible
@@ -825,7 +825,7 @@ class addressbook_vcal extends addressbook_bo
 								break;
 
 							case 'cat_id':
-								$contact[$fieldName] = implode(',',$this->find_or_add_categories($vcardValues[$vcardKey]['values']));
+								$contact[$fieldName] = implode(',',$this->find_or_add_categories($vcardValues[$vcardKey]['values'], $_abID));
 								break;
 
 							case 'jpegphoto':