diff --git a/src/jltypes.c b/src/jltypes.c
index 3122593409199..b038be3ed58b3 100644
--- a/src/jltypes.c
+++ b/src/jltypes.c
@@ -659,7 +659,7 @@ static jl_value_t *intersect_typevar(jl_tvar_t *a, jl_value_t *b,
         if (b == jl_bottom_type)
             return b;
     }
-    if (var == invariant && !jl_has_typevars_(b,0)) {
+    if (var == invariant && !jl_has_typevars_(b,0) && !jl_is_typevar(b)) {
         int i;
         for(i=0; i < eqc->n; i+=2) {
             if (eqc->data[i] == (jl_value_t*)a) {
diff --git a/test/core.jl b/test/core.jl
index c93fa6b4fcfa0..a5f785e3f42b6 100644
--- a/test/core.jl
+++ b/test/core.jl
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ let T = TypeVar(:T,true)
     # issue #5359
     @test typeintersect((Type{Array{T,1}},Array{T,1}),
                         (Type{AbstractVector},Vector{Int})) === None
+    # issue #5559
+    @test typeintersect((Type{Vector{Complex128}}, AbstractVector),
+                        (Type{Array{T,N}}, Array{S,N})) == (Type{Vector{Complex128}},Vector)
+    @test typeintersect((Type{Vector{Complex128}}, AbstractArray),
+                        (Type{Array{T,N}}, Array{S,N})) == (Type{Vector{Complex128}},Vector)
 end
 let N = TypeVar(:N,true)
     @test isequal(typeintersect((NTuple{N,Integer},NTuple{N,Integer}),