diff --git a/src/key/import.ts b/src/key/import.ts
index 12d49d8367..f27f6e9029 100644
--- a/src/key/import.ts
+++ b/src/key/import.ts
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ export async function importSPKI(
   spki: string,
   alg: string,
   options?: PEMImportOptions,
-): Promise<Exclude<KeyLike, Uint8Array>> {
+): Promise<KeyLike> {
   if (typeof spki !== 'string' || spki.indexOf('-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----') !== 0) {
     throw new TypeError('"spki" must be SPKI formatted string')
   }
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ export async function importX509(
   x509: string,
   alg: string,
   options?: PEMImportOptions,
-): Promise<Exclude<KeyLike, Uint8Array>> {
+): Promise<KeyLike> {
   if (typeof x509 !== 'string' || x509.indexOf('-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----') !== 0) {
     throw new TypeError('"x509" must be X.509 formatted string')
   }
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ export async function importPKCS8(
   pkcs8: string,
   alg: string,
   options?: PEMImportOptions,
-): Promise<Exclude<KeyLike, Uint8Array>> {
+): Promise<KeyLike> {
   if (typeof pkcs8 !== 'string' || pkcs8.indexOf('-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----') !== 0) {
     throw new TypeError('"pkcs8" must be PCKS8 formatted string')
   }
diff --git a/src/runtime/interfaces.d.ts b/src/runtime/interfaces.d.ts
index 65e21495a8..615973ac4a 100644
--- a/src/runtime/interfaces.d.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/interfaces.d.ts
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ export interface JWKImportFunction {
   (jwk: JWK): AsyncOrSync<KeyLike>
 }
 export interface PEMImportFunction {
-  (pem: string, alg: string, options?: PEMImportOptions): AsyncOrSync<Exclude<KeyLike, Uint8Array>>
+  (pem: string, alg: string, options?: PEMImportOptions): AsyncOrSync<KeyLike>
 }
 interface ExportFunction<T> {
   (key: unknown): AsyncOrSync<T>