diff --git a/docs/en/reference/advanced-configuration.rst b/docs/en/reference/advanced-configuration.rst
index 3282bbdb35..5e11057ed9 100644
--- a/docs/en/reference/advanced-configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/en/reference/advanced-configuration.rst
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ for the ``$identifier`` parameter is passed. ``$identifier`` values are
 not checked and there is no guarantee that the requested entity instance even
 exists – the method will still return a proxy object.
 
-Its only when the proxy has to be fully initialized or associations cannot
+It is only when the proxy has to be fully initialized or associations cannot
 be written to the database that invalid ``$identifier`` values may lead to
 exceptions.
 
diff --git a/src/EntityManager.php b/src/EntityManager.php
index 8045ac2f5e..418f7573d4 100644
--- a/src/EntityManager.php
+++ b/src/EntityManager.php
@@ -366,6 +366,19 @@ public function getReference(string $entityName, mixed $id): object|null
             $id = [$class->identifier[0] => $id];
         }
 
+        foreach ($id as $i => $value) {
+            if (is_object($value)) {
+                $className = DefaultProxyClassNameResolver::getClass($value);
+                if ($this->metadataFactory->hasMetadataFor($className)) {
+                    $id[$i] = $this->unitOfWork->getSingleIdentifierValue($value);
+
+                    if ($id[$i] === null) {
+                        throw ORMInvalidArgumentException::invalidIdentifierBindingEntity($className);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         $sortedId = [];
 
         foreach ($class->identifier as $identifier) {
diff --git a/src/Proxy/ProxyFactory.php b/src/Proxy/ProxyFactory.php
index b2d114a669..0139ffc797 100644
--- a/src/Proxy/ProxyFactory.php
+++ b/src/Proxy/ProxyFactory.php
@@ -280,8 +280,9 @@ private function getProxyFactory(string $className): Closure
         $initializer      = $this->createLazyInitializer($class, $entityPersister, $this->identifierFlattener);
         $proxyClassName   = $this->loadProxyClass($class);
         $identifierFields = array_intersect_key($class->getReflectionProperties(), $identifiers);
+        $em               = $this->em;
 
-        $proxyFactory = Closure::bind(static function (array $identifier) use ($initializer, $skippedProperties, $identifierFields, $className): InternalProxy {
+        $proxyFactory = Closure::bind(static function (array $identifier) use ($initializer, $skippedProperties, $identifierFields, $className, $class, $em): InternalProxy {
             $proxy = self::createLazyGhost(static function (InternalProxy $object) use ($initializer, $identifier): void {
                 $initializer($object, $identifier);
             }, $skippedProperties);
@@ -292,7 +293,16 @@ private function getProxyFactory(string $className): Closure
                 }
 
                 assert($reflector !== null);
-                $reflector->setValue($proxy, $identifier[$idField]);
+
+                $idValue = $identifier[$idField];
+                if ($class->hasAssociation($idField)) {
+                    $idValue = $em->getReference(
+                        $class->getAssociationTargetClass($idField),
+                        $idValue,
+                    );
+                }
+
+                $reflector->setValue($proxy, $idValue);
             }
 
             return $proxy;
diff --git a/tests/Tests/ORM/Functional/CompositePrimaryKeyWithAssociationsTest.php b/tests/Tests/ORM/Functional/CompositePrimaryKeyWithAssociationsTest.php
index 25cab43261..aea3b669b0 100644
--- a/tests/Tests/ORM/Functional/CompositePrimaryKeyWithAssociationsTest.php
+++ b/tests/Tests/ORM/Functional/CompositePrimaryKeyWithAssociationsTest.php
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 use Doctrine\Tests\Models\GeoNames\Admin1AlternateName;
 use Doctrine\Tests\Models\GeoNames\Country;
 use Doctrine\Tests\OrmFunctionalTestCase;
+use Doctrine\Tests\Proxies\__CG__\Doctrine\Tests\Models\GeoNames\Country as CountryProxy;
 
 class CompositePrimaryKeyWithAssociationsTest extends OrmFunctionalTestCase
 {
@@ -61,4 +62,19 @@ public function testFindByAbleToGetCompositeEntitiesWithMixedTypeIdentifiers():
         self::assertEquals(2, $name2->id);
         self::assertEquals('Rome', $name2->name);
     }
+
+    public function testGetReferenceAbleToGetCompositeEntitiesFromId(): void
+    {
+        $admin1Rome = $this->_em->getReference(Admin1::class, ['country' => 'IT', 'id' => 1]);
+        self::assertInstanceOf(CountryProxy::class, $admin1Rome->country);
+        self::assertEquals('Italy', $admin1Rome->country->name);
+    }
+
+    public function testGetReferenceAbleToGetCompositeEntitiesFromReference(): void
+    {
+        $countryRef = $this->_em->getReference(Country::class, 'IT');
+        $admin1Rome = $this->_em->getReference(Admin1::class, ['country' => $countryRef, 'id' => 1]);
+        self::assertInstanceOf(CountryProxy::class, $admin1Rome->country);
+        self::assertEquals('Italy', $admin1Rome->country->name);
+    }
 }