diff --git a/owners-autoassign/src/main/java/com/vmware/gerrit/owners/common/ReviewerManager.java b/owners-autoassign/src/main/java/com/vmware/gerrit/owners/common/ReviewerManager.java
index c30fca9..8e5b167 100644
--- a/owners-autoassign/src/main/java/com/vmware/gerrit/owners/common/ReviewerManager.java
+++ b/owners-autoassign/src/main/java/com/vmware/gerrit/owners/common/ReviewerManager.java
@@ -24,9 +24,13 @@
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.restapi.RestApiException;
 import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.Account;
 import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.Account.Id;
+import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.Change;
+import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.Project;
+import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.server.ReviewDb;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.IdentifiedUser;
-import com.google.gerrit.server.change.ChangesCollection;
-import com.google.gerrit.server.project.ChangeControl;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.permissions.ChangePermission;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.permissions.PermissionBackend;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.query.change.ChangeData;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.util.ManualRequestContext;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.util.OneOffRequestContext;
 import com.google.gwtorm.server.OrmException;
@@ -44,18 +48,21 @@
   private final OneOffRequestContext requestContext;
   private final GerritApi gApi;
   private final IdentifiedUser.GenericFactory userFactory;
-  private final ChangesCollection changes;
+  private final ChangeData.Factory changeDataFactory;
+  private final PermissionBackend permissionBackend;
 
   @Inject
   public ReviewerManager(
       OneOffRequestContext requestContext,
       GerritApi gApi,
       IdentifiedUser.GenericFactory userFactory,
-      ChangesCollection changes) {
+      ChangeData.Factory changeDataFactory,
+      PermissionBackend permissionBackend) {
     this.requestContext = requestContext;
     this.gApi = gApi;
     this.userFactory = userFactory;
-    this.changes = changes;
+    this.changeDataFactory = changeDataFactory;
+    this.permissionBackend = permissionBackend;
   }
 
   public void addReviewers(ChangeApi cApi, Collection<Account.Id> reviewers)
@@ -64,13 +71,12 @@
       ChangeInfo changeInfo = cApi.get();
       try (ManualRequestContext ctx =
           requestContext.openAs(new Account.Id(changeInfo.owner._accountId))) {
-        ChangeControl changeControl = changes.parse(change.getId()).getControl();
         // TODO(davido): Switch back to using changes API again,
         // when it supports batch mode for adding reviewers
         ReviewInput in = new ReviewInput();
         in.reviewers = new ArrayList<>(reviewers.size());
         for (Account.Id account : reviewers) {
-          if (isVisibleTo(changeControl, account)) {
+          if (isVisibleTo(ctx.getReviewDbProvider().get(), changeInfo, account)) {
             AddReviewerInput addReviewerInput = new AddReviewerInput();
             addReviewerInput.reviewer = account.toString();
             in.reviewers.add(addReviewerInput);
@@ -78,7 +84,7 @@
             log.warn(
                 "Not adding account {} as reviewer to change {} because the associated ref is not visible",
                 account,
-                change.getId());
+                changeInfo._number);
           }
           gApi.changes().id(changeInfo.id).current().review(in);
         }
@@ -89,7 +95,13 @@
     }
   }
 
-  private boolean isVisibleTo(ChangeControl changeControl, Id account) {
-    return changeControl.forUser(userFactory.create(account)).isRefVisible();
+  private boolean isVisibleTo(ReviewDb reviewDb, ChangeInfo changeInfo, Id account) {
+    ChangeData changeData =
+        changeDataFactory.create(
+            reviewDb, new Project.NameKey(changeInfo.project), new Change.Id(changeInfo._number));
+    return permissionBackend
+        .user(userFactory.create(account))
+        .change(changeData)
+        .testOrFalse(ChangePermission.READ);
   }
 }