diff --git a/internal/terraform/context_plan_import_test.go b/internal/terraform/context_plan_import_test.go
index acff2cec7f07..caf753198511 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/context_plan_import_test.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/context_plan_import_test.go
@@ -2217,3 +2217,61 @@ func TestContext2Plan_importIdentityModuleWithOptional(t *testing.T) {
 			tfdiags.ObjectToString(wantIdentity))
 	}
 }
+
+func TestContext2Plan_importIdentityMissingResponse(t *testing.T) {
+	p := testProvider("aws")
+	m := testModule(t, "import-identity-module")
+
+	p.GetProviderSchemaResponse = getProviderSchemaResponseFromProviderSchema(&providerSchema{
+		ResourceTypes: map[string]*configschema.Block{
+			"aws_lb": {
+				Attributes: map[string]*configschema.Attribute{
+					"id": {
+						Type:     cty.String,
+						Computed: true,
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		IdentityTypes: map[string]*configschema.Object{
+			"aws_lb": {
+				Attributes: map[string]*configschema.Attribute{
+					"name": {
+						Type:     cty.String,
+						Required: true,
+					},
+				},
+				Nesting: configschema.NestingSingle,
+			},
+		},
+	})
+	p.ImportResourceStateResponse = &providers.ImportResourceStateResponse{
+		ImportedResources: []providers.ImportedResource{
+			{
+				TypeName: "aws_lb",
+				State: cty.ObjectVal(map[string]cty.Value{
+					"id": cty.StringVal("foo"),
+				}),
+				// No identity returned
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	ctx := testContext2(t, &ContextOpts{
+		Providers: map[addrs.Provider]providers.Factory{
+			addrs.NewDefaultProvider("aws"): testProviderFuncFixed(p),
+		},
+	})
+
+	diags := ctx.Validate(m, &ValidateOpts{})
+	if diags.HasErrors() {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected errors\n%s", diags.Err().Error())
+	}
+
+	_, diags = ctx.Plan(m, states.NewState(), DefaultPlanOpts)
+	if !diags.HasErrors() {
+		t.Fatal("succeeded; want errors")
+	}
+	if got, want := diags.Err().Error(), `import of aws_lb.foo didn't return an identity`; !strings.Contains(got, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("wrong error:\ngot:  %s\nwant: message containing %q", got, want)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/terraform/node_resource_plan_instance.go b/internal/terraform/node_resource_plan_instance.go
index f181508b043c..fc311e2904ed 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/node_resource_plan_instance.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/node_resource_plan_instance.go
@@ -753,6 +753,12 @@ func (n *NodePlannableResourceInstance) importState(ctx EvalContext, addr addrs.
 		return nil, deferred, diags
 	}
 
+	// Providers are supposed to return an identity when importing by identity
+	if importTarget.Type().IsObjectType() && imported[0].Identity.IsNull() {
+		diags = diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("import of %s didn't return an identity", n.Addr.String()))
+		return nil, deferred, diags
+	}
+
 	// Providers are supposed to return null values for all write-only attributes
 	writeOnlyDiags := ephemeral.ValidateWriteOnlyAttributes(
 		"Import returned a non-null value for a write-only attribute",
@@ -782,7 +788,6 @@ func (n *NodePlannableResourceInstance) importState(ctx EvalContext, addr addrs.
 				importType, importValue,
 			),
 		))
-
 	}
 
 	// refresh