diff --git a/labelbox/__init__.py b/labelbox/__init__.py
index d1e18b3ad..98f6a0dae 100644
--- a/labelbox/__init__.py
+++ b/labelbox/__init__.py
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 name = "labelbox"
 __version__ = "3.47.1"
 
-from backports.datetime_fromisoformat import MonkeyPatch
-
-MonkeyPatch.patch_fromisoformat()
-
 from labelbox.client import Client
 from labelbox.schema.project import Project
 from labelbox.schema.model import Model
diff --git a/labelbox/schema/data_row_metadata.py b/labelbox/schema/data_row_metadata.py
index 3fd33e50a..61982e69d 100644
--- a/labelbox/schema/data_row_metadata.py
+++ b/labelbox/schema/data_row_metadata.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from pydantic import BaseModel, conlist, constr
 
 from labelbox.schema.ontology import SchemaId
-from labelbox.utils import _CamelCaseMixin, format_iso_datetime
+from labelbox.utils import _CamelCaseMixin, format_iso_datetime, format_iso_from_string
 
 
 class DataRowMetadataKind(Enum):
@@ -466,7 +466,7 @@ def parse_metadata_fields(
                                              value=schema.uid)
             elif schema.kind == DataRowMetadataKind.datetime:
                 field = DataRowMetadataField(schema_id=schema.uid,
-                                             value=datetime.fromisoformat(
+                                             value=format_iso_from_string(
                                                  f["value"]))
             else:
                 field = DataRowMetadataField(schema_id=schema.uid,
@@ -838,7 +838,7 @@ def _validate_parse_number(
 def _validate_parse_datetime(
         field: DataRowMetadataField) -> List[Dict[str, Union[SchemaId, str]]]:
     if isinstance(field.value, str):
-        field.value = datetime.fromisoformat(field.value)
+        field.value = format_iso_from_string(field.value)
     elif not isinstance(field.value, datetime):
         raise TypeError(
             f"Value for datetime fields must be either a string or datetime object. Found {type(field.value)}"
diff --git a/labelbox/utils.py b/labelbox/utils.py
index 5ec90f403..bfe39a3e2 100644
--- a/labelbox/utils.py
+++ b/labelbox/utils.py
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 import datetime
 import re
+
+from dateutil.tz import tzoffset
+from dateutil.parser import isoparse as dateutil_parse
+from dateutil.utils import default_tzinfo
+
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 UPPERCASE_COMPONENTS = ['uri', 'rgb']
 ISO_DATETIME_FORMAT = '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ'
+DFLT_TZ = tzoffset("UTC", 0000)
 
 
 def _convert(s, sep, title):
@@ -80,4 +86,14 @@ def format_iso_datetime(dt: datetime.datetime) -> str:
     Formats a datetime object into the format: 2011-11-04T00:05:23Z
     Note that datetime.isoformat() outputs 2011-11-04T00:05:23+00:00
     """
-    return dt.strftime(ISO_DATETIME_FORMAT)
\ No newline at end of file
+    return dt.astimezone(datetime.timezone.utc).strftime(ISO_DATETIME_FORMAT)
+
+
+def format_iso_from_string(date_string: str) -> datetime.datetime:
+    """
+    Converts a string even if offset is missing: 2011-11-04T00:05:23Z or 2011-11-04T00:05:23+00:00 or 2011-11-04T00:05:23
+    to a datetime object.
+    For missing offsets, the default offset is UTC.
+    """
+    # return datetime.datetime.fromisoformat(date_string)
+    return default_tzinfo(dateutil_parse(date_string), DFLT_TZ)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 61d8b559c..b48d8bd12 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
-requests==2.22.0
 backoff==1.10.0
-google-api-core>=1.22.1
-pydantic>=1.8,<2.0
-shapely
-tqdm
 geojson
+google-api-core>=1.22.1
+imagesize
+nbconvert~=7.2.6
+nbformat~=5.7.0
 numpy
-PILLOW
 opencv-python
-imagesize
-pyproj
+PILLOW
+pydantic>=1.8,<2.0
 pygeotile
-typing-extensions==4.5.0
+pyproj
 pytest-xdist
-nbformat~=5.7.0
-nbconvert~=7.2.6
+python-dateutil>=2.8.2,<2.9.0
+requests==2.22.0
+shapely
+tqdm
 typeguard==2.13.3
-backports-datetime-fromisoformat~=2.0
\ No newline at end of file
+typing-extensions==4.5.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 151a4ba15..e459b0f5e 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
     packages=setuptools.find_packages(),
     install_requires=[
         "backoff==1.10.0", "requests>=2.22.0", "google-api-core>=1.22.1",
-        "pydantic>=1.8,<2.0", "tqdm", "backports-datetime-fromisoformat~=2.0"
+        "pydantic>=1.8,<2.0", "tqdm", "python-dateutil>=2.8.2,<2.9.0"
     ],
     extras_require={
         'data': [
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
         ],
     },
     classifiers=[
-        'Development Status :: 3 - Alpha',
         'License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7',
diff --git a/tests/integration/test_data_row_metadata.py b/tests/integration/test_data_row_metadata.py
index 3c0d06d33..41f020c51 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_data_row_metadata.py
+++ b/tests/integration/test_data_row_metadata.py
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ def test_delete_schema(mdo):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('datetime_str',
-                         ['2011-11-04T00:05:23Z', '2011-05-07T14:34:14+00:00'])
+                         ['2011-11-04T00:05:23Z', '2011-11-04T00:05:23+00:00'])
 def test_upsert_datarow_date_metadata(data_row, mdo, datetime_str):
     metadata = [
         DataRowMetadata(data_row_id=data_row.uid,
@@ -458,11 +458,11 @@ def test_upsert_datarow_date_metadata(data_row, mdo, datetime_str):
     assert len(errors) == 0
 
     metadata = mdo.bulk_export([data_row.uid])
-    assert metadata[0].fields[0].value == datetime.fromisoformat(datetime_str)
+    assert f"{metadata[0].fields[0].value}" == "2011-11-04 00:05:23+00:00"
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('datetime_str',
-                         ['2011-11-04T00:05:23Z', '2011-05-07T14:34:14+00:00'])
+                         ['2011-11-04T00:05:23Z', '2011-11-04T00:05:23+00:00'])
 def test_create_data_row_with_metadata(dataset, image_url, datetime_str):
     client = dataset.client
     assert len(list(dataset.data_rows())) == 0
@@ -475,5 +475,4 @@ def test_create_data_row_with_metadata(dataset, image_url, datetime_str):
                                        metadata_fields=metadata_fields)
 
     retrieved_data_row = client.get_data_row(data_row.uid)
-    assert retrieved_data_row.metadata[0].value == datetime.fromisoformat(
-        datetime_str)
+    assert f"{retrieved_data_row.metadata[0].value}" == "2011-11-04 00:05:23+00:00"
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_utils.py b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..129edcd72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import pytest
+from labelbox.utils import format_iso_datetime, format_iso_from_string
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('datetime_str, expected_datetime_str',
+                         [('2011-11-04T00:05:23Z', '2011-11-04T00:05:23Z'),
+                          ('2011-11-04T00:05:23+00:00', '2011-11-04T00:05:23Z'),
+                          ('2011-11-04T00:05:23+05:00', '2011-11-03T19:05:23Z'),
+                          ('2011-11-04T00:05:23', '2011-11-04T00:05:23Z')])
+def test_datetime_parsing(datetime_str, expected_datetime_str):
+    # NOTE I would normally not take 'expected' using another function from sdk code, but in this case this is exactly the usage in _validate_parse_datetime
+    assert format_iso_datetime(
+        format_iso_from_string(datetime_str)) == expected_datetime_str
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index b98fd7fa8..8dd46d939 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # content of: tox.ini , put in same dir as setup.py
 [tox]
-envlist = py36, py37, py38
+envlist = py37, py38, py39
 
 [testenv]
 # install pytest in the virtualenv where commands will be executed