diff --git a/deepface/DeepFace.py b/deepface/DeepFace.py
index e9f6d9d..c8920d8 100644
--- a/deepface/DeepFace.py
+++ b/deepface/DeepFace.py
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ import warnings
 import logging
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Tuple, Union, Optional
 
+# this has to be set before importing tensorflow
+os.environ["TF_USE_LEGACY_KERAS"] = "1"
+
+# pylint: disable=wrong-import-position
+
 # 3rd party dependencies
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
@@ -28,6 +33,9 @@ logger = Logger(module="DeepFace")
 # -----------------------------------
 # configurations for dependencies
 
+# users should install tf_keras package if they are using tf 2.16 or later versions
+package_utils.validate_for_keras3()
+
 warnings.filterwarnings("ignore")
 os.environ["TF_CPP_MIN_LOG_LEVEL"] = "3"
 tf_version = package_utils.get_tf_major_version()
diff --git a/deepface/commons/package_utils.py b/deepface/commons/package_utils.py
index 20fa35e..1620732 100644
--- a/deepface/commons/package_utils.py
+++ b/deepface/commons/package_utils.py
@@ -50,3 +50,24 @@ def find_hash_of_file(file_path: str) -> str:
     hasher = hashlib.sha1()
     hasher.update(properties.encode("utf-8"))
     return hasher.hexdigest()
+
+
+def validate_for_keras3():
+    tf_major = get_tf_major_version()
+    tf_minor = get_tf_minor_version()
+
+    # tf_keras is a must dependency after tf 2.16
+    if tf_major == 1 or (tf_major == 2 and tf_minor < 16):
+        return
+
+    try:
+        import tf_keras
+
+        logger.debug(f"tf_keras is already available - {tf_keras.__version__}")
+    except ImportError as err:
+        # you may consider to install that package here
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"You have tensorflow {tf.__version__} and this requires "
+            "tf-keras package. Please run `pip install tf-keras` "
+            "or downgrade your tensorflow."
+        ) from err