diff --git a/requirements-swh.txt b/requirements-swh.txt
--- a/requirements-swh.txt
+++ b/requirements-swh.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 swh.core >= 0.0.75
 swh.model >= 0.3.0
 swh.scheduler
-swh.storage >= 0.2.0
+swh.storage >= 0.3.0
diff --git a/swh/loader/cli.py b/swh/loader/cli.py
--- a/swh/loader/cli.py
+++ b/swh/loader/cli.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2019 The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2019-2020 The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import logging
 
 import click
+import iso8601
 import pkg_resources
 
 from typing import Any
@@ -70,6 +71,11 @@
     """Ingest with loader <type> the origin located at <url>"""
     (_, kw) = parse_options(options)
     logger.debug(f"kw: {kw}")
+    visit_date = kw.get("visit_date")
+    if visit_date and isinstance(visit_date, str):
+        visit_date = iso8601.parse_date(visit_date)
+        kw["visit_date"] = visit_date
+
     loader = get_loader(type, url=url, **kw)
     result = loader.load()
     click.echo(result)
diff --git a/swh/loader/core/loader.py b/swh/loader/core/loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/core/loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/core/loader.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import os
 
 from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod
-from typing import Any, Dict, Iterable, Optional, Tuple, Union
+from typing import Any, Dict, Iterable, Optional, Tuple
 
 from swh.core import config
 from swh.model.model import (
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
     SkippedContent,
     Directory,
     Origin,
+    OriginVisit,
     OriginVisitStatus,
     Revision,
     Release,
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@
         self.max_content_size = self.config["max_content_size"]
 
         # possibly overridden in self.prepare method
-        self.visit_date: Optional[Union[str, datetime.datetime]] = None
+        self.visit_date: Optional[datetime.datetime] = None
 
         self.origin: Optional[Origin] = None
 
@@ -173,9 +174,19 @@
 
         if not self.visit_date:  # now as default visit_date if not provided
             self.visit_date = datetime.datetime.now(tz=datetime.timezone.utc)
+        assert isinstance(self.visit_date, datetime.datetime)
+        assert isinstance(self.visit_type, str)
         self.visit = self.storage.origin_visit_add(
-            self.origin.url, self.visit_date, self.visit_type
-        )
+            [
+                OriginVisit(
+                    origin=self.origin.url,
+                    date=self.visit_date,
+                    type=self.visit_type,
+                    status="ongoing",
+                    snapshot=None,
+                )
+            ]
+        )[0]
 
     @abstractmethod
     def prepare(self, *args, **kwargs) -> None:
diff --git a/swh/loader/core/tests/test_loader.py b/swh/loader/core/tests/test_loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/core/tests/test_loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/core/tests/test_loader.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 import hashlib
 import logging
 
-from swh.model.model import Origin, Snapshot
+from swh.model.model import Origin, OriginVisit, Snapshot
 
 from swh.loader.core.loader import BaseLoader, DVCSLoader
 
@@ -33,9 +33,14 @@
         self.visit_date = datetime.datetime.now(tz=datetime.timezone.utc)
         self.visit_type = "git"
         origin_url = self.storage.origin_add_one(ORIGIN)
-        self.visit = self.storage.origin_visit_add(
-            origin_url, self.visit_date, self.visit_type
+        visit = OriginVisit(
+            origin=origin_url,
+            date=self.visit_date,
+            type=self.visit_type,
+            status="ongoing",
+            snapshot=None,
         )
+        self.visit = self.storage.origin_visit_add([visit])[0]
 
 
 class DummyDVCSLoader(DummyLoader, DVCSLoader):
diff --git a/swh/loader/package/loader.py b/swh/loader/package/loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/loader.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
     TargetType,
     Snapshot,
     Origin,
+    OriginVisit,
     OriginVisitStatus,
 )
 from swh.storage import get_storage
@@ -286,6 +287,7 @@
             snapshot_id: Optional[bytes] = None
             if snapshot and snapshot.id:  # to prevent the snapshot.id to b""
                 snapshot_id = snapshot.id
+            assert visit.visit
             visit_status = OriginVisitStatus(
                 origin=self.url,
                 visit=visit.visit,
@@ -306,8 +308,16 @@
         try:
             self.storage.origin_add_one(origin)
             visit = self.storage.origin_visit_add(
-                self.url, date=self.visit_date, type=self.visit_type
-            )
+                [
+                    OriginVisit(
+                        origin=self.url,
+                        date=self.visit_date,
+                        type=self.visit_type,
+                        status="ongoing",
+                        snapshot=None,
+                    )
+                ]
+            )[0]
         except Exception as e:
             logger.exception("Failed to initialize origin_visit for %s", self.url)
             sentry_sdk.capture_exception(e)
diff --git a/swh/loader/package/tests/test_loader.py b/swh/loader/package/tests/test_loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/tests/test_loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/tests/test_loader.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2019  The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2019-2020  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     def origin_add_one(self, origin):
         return origin
 
-    def origin_visit_add(self, origin, date, type):
+    def origin_visit_add(self, visits):
         raise ValueError("We refuse to add an origin visit")
 
 
diff --git a/swh/loader/tests/test_cli.py b/swh/loader/tests/test_cli.py
--- a/swh/loader/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/swh/loader/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2019 The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2019-2020 The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
+import datetime
+
 import pytest
 
 
@@ -77,6 +79,24 @@
     mock_loader.assert_called_once_with(url="https://some-url")  # constructor
 
 
+def test_run_with_visit_date(mocker, swh_config):
+    """iso visit_date parameter should be parsed as datetime
+
+    """
+    mock_loader = mocker.patch("swh.loader.cli.get_loader")
+
+    runner = CliRunner()
+    input_date = "2016-05-03 15:16:32+00"
+    result = runner.invoke(run, ["npm", "https://some-url", f"visit_date={input_date}"])
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    expected_parsed_date = datetime.datetime(
+        2016, 5, 3, 15, 16, 32, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc
+    )
+    mock_loader.assert_called_once_with(
+        "npm", url="https://some-url", visit_date=expected_parsed_date
+    )
+
+
 def test_list_help(mocker, swh_config):
     """Triggering a load should be ok