diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 6e61d36c64..456fa6a561 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ gem "rubytree", "~> 0.5.2", :require => 'tree'
 gem "rdoc", ">= 2.4.2"
 # Needed only on RUBY_VERSION = 1.8, ruby 1.9+ compatible interpreters should bring their csv
 gem "fastercsv", "~> 1.5.0", :platforms => [:ruby_18, :jruby, :mingw_18]
+gem 'delayed_job', "~>2.0.4"
 
 group :test do
   gem 'shoulda', '~> 2.10.3'
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index e1b7068de5..5ec9435523 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -15,3 +15,9 @@ rescue LoadError
 end
 
 require 'tasks/rails'
+
+begin
+  require 'delayed/tasks'
+rescue LoadError
+  STDERR.puts "Run `rake gems:install` to install delayed_job"
+end
diff --git a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
index 35263c21e2..ce16b10396 100644
--- a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
@@ -209,7 +209,8 @@ class UsersController < ApplicationController
   end
 
   def destroy
-    @user.destroy
+    # as destroying users is a lengthy process we handle it in the background
+    @user.send_later(:destroy)
 
     flash[:notice] = l('account.deleted')
     logged_user = nil
diff --git a/config/initializers/delayed_job_config.rb b/config/initializers/delayed_job_config.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..399e3c1337
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/initializers/delayed_job_config.rb
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Delayed::Worker.logger = Rails.logger
diff --git a/db/migrate/20120529090411_create_delayed_jobs.rb b/db/migrate/20120529090411_create_delayed_jobs.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ac579dfcd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20120529090411_create_delayed_jobs.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+class CreateDelayedJobs < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def self.up
+    create_table :delayed_jobs, :force => true do |table|
+      table.integer  :priority, :default => 0      # Allows some jobs to jump to the front of the queue
+      table.integer  :attempts, :default => 0      # Provides for retries, but still fail eventually.
+      table.text     :handler                      # YAML-encoded string of the object that will do work
+      table.text     :last_error                   # reason for last failure (See Note below)
+      table.datetime :run_at                       # When to run. Could be Time.zone.now for immediately, or sometime in the future.
+      table.datetime :locked_at                    # Set when a client is working on this object
+      table.datetime :failed_at                    # Set when all retries have failed (actually, by default, the record is deleted instead)
+      table.string   :locked_by                    # Who is working on this object (if locked)
+      table.timestamps
+    end
+	
+    add_index :delayed_jobs, [:priority, :run_at], :name => 'delayed_jobs_priority'
+  end
+  
+  def self.down
+    drop_table :delayed_jobs  
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/script/delayed_job b/script/delayed_job
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..edf195985f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/script/delayed_job
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+
+require File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'config', 'environment'))
+require 'delayed/command'
+Delayed::Command.new(ARGV).daemonize