diff --git a/_drgn.pyi b/_drgn.pyi
index 22fdb0b4..dceac723 100644
--- a/_drgn.pyi
+++ b/_drgn.pyi
@@ -259,6 +259,7 @@ class Program:
             ``struct task_struct *`` object.
         """
         ...
+    @overload
     def type(self, name: str, filename: Optional[str] = None) -> Type:
         """
         Get the type with the given name.
@@ -273,6 +274,28 @@ class Program:
             the given file
         """
         ...
+    @overload
+    # type is positional-only.
+    def type(self, type: Type) -> Type:
+        """
+        Return the given type.
+
+        This is mainly useful so that helpers can use ``prog.type()`` to get a
+        :class:`Type` regardless of whether they were given a :class:`str` or a
+        :class:`Type`. For example:
+
+        .. code-block:: python3
+
+            def my_helper(obj: Object, type: Union[str, Type]) -> bool:
+                # type may be str or Type.
+                type = obj.prog_.type(type)
+                # type is now always Type.
+                return sizeof(obj) > sizeof(type)
+
+        :param type: Type.
+        :return: The exact same type.
+        """
+        ...
     def threads(self) -> Iterator[Thread]:
         """Get an iterator over all of the threads in the program."""
         ...
diff --git a/drgn/helpers/linux/list.py b/drgn/helpers/linux/list.py
index 2357389a..fc504fa0 100644
--- a/drgn/helpers/linux/list.py
+++ b/drgn/helpers/linux/list.py
@@ -85,9 +85,7 @@ def list_first_entry_or_null(
     head = head.read_()
     pos = head.next.read_()
     if pos == head:
-        if isinstance(type, str):
-            type = head.prog_.type(type)
-        return NULL(head.prog_, head.prog_.pointer_type(type))
+        return NULL(head.prog_, head.prog_.pointer_type(head.prog_.type(type)))
     else:
         return container_of(pos, type, member)
 
diff --git a/libdrgn/python/program.c b/libdrgn/python/program.c
index f263557e..07249d4e 100644
--- a/libdrgn/python/program.c
+++ b/libdrgn/python/program.c
@@ -589,16 +589,32 @@ static PyObject *Program_find_type(Program *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds
 {
 	static char *keywords[] = {"name", "filename", NULL};
 	struct drgn_error *err;
-	const char *name;
+	PyObject *name_or_type;
 	struct path_arg filename = {.allow_none = true};
-	struct drgn_qualified_type qualified_type;
-	bool clear;
-
-	if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "s|O&:type", keywords,
-					 &name, path_converter, &filename))
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|O&:type", keywords,
+					 &name_or_type, path_converter,
+					 &filename))
 		return NULL;
 
-	clear = set_drgn_in_python();
+	if (PyObject_TypeCheck(name_or_type, &DrgnType_type)) {
+		if (DrgnType_prog((DrgnType *)name_or_type) != self) {
+			PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError,
+					"type is from different program");
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		Py_INCREF(name_or_type);
+		return name_or_type;
+	} else if (!PyUnicode_Check(name_or_type)) {
+		PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
+				"type() argument 1 must be str or Type");
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	const char *name = PyUnicode_AsUTF8(name_or_type);
+	if (!name)
+		return NULL;
+	bool clear = set_drgn_in_python();
+	struct drgn_qualified_type qualified_type;
 	err = drgn_program_find_type(&self->prog, name, filename.path,
 				     &qualified_type);
 	if (clear)
diff --git a/tests/test_program.py b/tests/test_program.py
index a957cb5c..f68ffd20 100644
--- a/tests/test_program.py
+++ b/tests/test_program.py
@@ -397,6 +397,15 @@ class TestTypes(MockProgramTestCase):
         self.prog.add_type_finder(lambda kind, name, filename: None)
         self.assertRaises(LookupError, self.prog.type, "struct foo")
 
+    def test_already_type(self):
+        self.assertIdentical(
+            self.prog.type(self.prog.pointer_type(self.prog.void_type())),
+            self.prog.pointer_type(self.prog.void_type()),
+        )
+
+    def test_invalid_argument_type(self):
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, self.prog.type, 1)
+
     def test_default_primitive_types(self):
         def spellings(tokens, num_optional=0):
             for i in range(len(tokens) - num_optional, len(tokens) + 1):