diff --git a/application/tasks/sitsimport.php b/application/tasks/sitsimport.php
index 1a279a64..9b121721 100644
--- a/application/tasks/sitsimport.php
+++ b/application/tasks/sitsimport.php
@@ -162,7 +162,9 @@ public function loadXML($path)
 			Log::error('XML file has not been modified for more than 24 hours.');
 		}
 
-		$courses = simplexml_load_file($path);
+		$courses = file_get_contents($path);
+		$courses = preg_replace( '/[\x{200B}-\x{200D}]/u', '', $courses );
+		$courses = simplexml_load_string($courses);
 
 		if ($courses === false) {
 			Log::error('XML file does not exist or is invalid.');