diff --git a/app/locales/taiga/locale-en.json b/app/locales/taiga/locale-en.json
index ce552abc..ed821b35 100644
--- a/app/locales/taiga/locale-en.json
+++ b/app/locales/taiga/locale-en.json
@@ -1122,6 +1122,7 @@
         "CHOOSE_PROJECT_FROM": "What's the project?",
         "CHOOSE_USERSTORY": "What's the user story?",
         "NO_USERSTORIES": "This project has no User Stories yet. Please select another project.",
+        "NO_USERSTORIES_FOUND": "It looks like nothing was found with your search criteria",
         "FILTER_USERSTORIES": "Filter user stories",
         "LIGHTBOX_TITLE_BLOKING_EPIC": "Blocking epic",
         "ACTION_DELETE": "Delete epic"
diff --git a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.controller.coffee b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.controller.coffee
index 8b51a2c2..19c37a56 100644
--- a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.controller.coffee
+++ b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.controller.coffee
@@ -28,17 +28,19 @@ class RelatedUserstoriesCreateController
     ]
 
     constructor: (@currentUserService, @rs, @confirm, @analytics) ->
-        @.projects = @currentUserService.projects.get("all")
+        @.projects = null
         @.projectUserstories = Immutable.List()
         @.loading = false
 
-    selectProject: (selectedProjectId, onSelectedProject) ->
-        @rs.userstories.listAllInProject(selectedProjectId).then (data) =>
+    loadProjects: () ->
+        if @.projects == null
+            @.projects = @currentUserService.projects.get("all")
+
+    filterUss: (selectedProjectId, filterText) ->
+        @rs.userstories.listInAllProjects({project: selectedProjectId, q: filterText}, true).then (data) =>
             excludeIds = @.epicUserstories.map((us) -> us.get('id'))
             filteredData = data.filter((us) -> excludeIds.indexOf(us.get('id')) == -1)
             @.projectUserstories = filteredData
-            if onSelectedProject
-                onSelectedProject()
 
     saveRelatedUserStory: (selectedUserstoryId, onSavedRelatedUserstory) ->
         # This method assumes the following methods are binded to the controller:
diff --git a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.controller.spec.coffee b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.controller.spec.coffee
index f3bc84b1..3a1f6f74 100644
--- a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.controller.spec.coffee
+++ b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.controller.spec.coffee
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@ describe "RelatedUserstoriesCreate", ->
             }
         ])
 
-        onSelectedProjectCallback = sinon.stub()
         userstories = Immutable.fromJS([
             {
                 id: 11
@@ -108,7 +107,7 @@ describe "RelatedUserstoriesCreate", ->
         ])
 
         promise = mocks.tgResources.userstories.listAllInProject.withArgs(1).promise().resolve(userstories)
-        RelatedUserstoriesCreateCtrl.selectProject(1, onSelectedProjectCallback).then () ->
+        RelatedUserstoriesCreateCtrl.filterUss(1, "").then () ->
             expect(RelatedUserstoriesCreateCtrl.projectUserstories.toJS()).to.eql(filteredUserstories.toJS())
             done()
 
diff --git a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.directive.coffee b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.directive.coffee
index 5cd7156d..8ecf460e 100644
--- a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.directive.coffee
+++ b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.directive.coffee
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 ###
 
 module = angular.module('taigaEpics')
+debounceLeading = @.taiga.debounceLeading
 
 RelatedUserstoriesCreateDirective = (@lightboxService) ->
     link = (scope, el, attrs, ctrl) ->
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@ RelatedUserstoriesCreateDirective = (@lightboxService) ->
             existingUserstoryForm.setErrors(errors)
 
         scope.showLightbox = (selectedProjectId) ->
+            ctrl.loadProjects()
             scope.selectProject(selectedProjectId).then () =>
                 lightboxService.open(el.find(".lightbox-create-related-user-stories"))
 
@@ -53,10 +55,11 @@ RelatedUserstoriesCreateDirective = (@lightboxService) ->
         scope.selectProject = (selectedProjectId) ->
             scope.selectedUserstory = null
             scope.searchUserstory = ""
-            ctrl.selectProject(selectedProjectId)
+            ctrl.filterUss(selectedProjectId, scope.searchUserstory)
 
-        scope.onUpdateSearchUserstory = () ->
+        scope.onUpdateSearchUserstory = debounceLeading 300, () ->
             scope.selectedUserstory = null
+            ctrl.filterUss(scope.selectedProject, scope.searchUserstory)
 
     return {
         link: link,
diff --git a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.jade b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.jade
index f5cabb13..c7ecdf7a 100644
--- a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.jade
+++ b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.jade
@@ -110,13 +110,8 @@ a.add-button.e2e-add-userstory-button(
                 translate="COMMON.SAVE"
                 ng-show="relatedWithSelector=='new-user-story'"
             )
-            
-        p(
-            ng-show="relatedWithSelector=='existing-user-story' && !vm.projectUserstories.size"
-            translate="EPIC.NO_USERSTORIES"
-        )
 
-        fieldset.existing-user-story(ng-show="relatedWithSelector=='existing-user-story' && vm.projectUserstories.size")
+        fieldset.existing-user-story(ng-show="relatedWithSelector=='existing-user-story'")
             label(
                 translate="EPIC.CHOOSE_USERSTORY"
                 for="userstory-filter"
@@ -129,7 +124,7 @@ a.add-button.e2e-add-userstory-button(
                 ng-change="onUpdateSearchUserstory()"
             )
 
-            form.existing-user-story-form
+            form.existing-user-story-form(ng-show="relatedWithSelector=='existing-user-story' && vm.projectUserstories.size")
                 select.userstory.e2e-userstories-select(
                     size="5"
                     ng-model="selectedUserstory"
@@ -140,10 +135,15 @@ a.add-button.e2e-add-userstory-button(
                         value=""
                     )
                     option(
-                        ng-repeat="us in vm.projectUserstories | toMutable  | byRef:searchUserstory track by us.id"
+                        ng-repeat="us in vm.projectUserstories | toMutable track by us.id"
                         value="{{ ::us.id }}"
                     ) #{hash}{{::us.ref}} {{::us.subject}}
 
+            p.no-stories-found(
+                ng-show="relatedWithSelector=='existing-user-story' && !vm.projectUserstories.size"
+                translate="EPIC.NO_USERSTORIES_FOUND"
+            )
+
             button.button-green.e2e-select-related-userstory-button(
                 href=""
                 ng-click="vm.saveRelatedUserStory(selectedUserstory, closeLightbox)"
diff --git a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.scss b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.scss
index 1e397dbf..4e8574bb 100644
--- a/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.scss
+++ b/app/modules/epics/related-userstories/related-userstories-create/related-userstories-create.scss
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@
     .new-user-story-form {
         margin-bottom: 1rem;
     }
+    .no-stories-found {
+        padding: 1rem 0 0 0;
+    }
     .new-user-story-options {
         display: flex;
         margin-left: auto;
diff --git a/app/modules/resources/userstories-resource.service.coffee b/app/modules/resources/userstories-resource.service.coffee
index 20406e2a..d8003e7e 100644
--- a/app/modules/resources/userstories-resource.service.coffee
+++ b/app/modules/resources/userstories-resource.service.coffee
@@ -20,14 +20,15 @@
 Resource = (urlsService, http) ->
     service = {}
 
-    service.listInAllProjects = (params) ->
+    service.listInAllProjects = (params, pagination=false) ->
         url = urlsService.resolve("userstories")
 
-        httpOptions = {
-            headers: {
-                "x-disable-pagination": "1"
+        if !pagination
+            httpOptions = {
+                headers: {
+                    "x-disable-pagination": "1"
+                }
             }
-        }
 
         return http.get(url, params, httpOptions)
             .then (result) ->