diff --git a/gen/declarations.cpp b/gen/declarations.cpp
index e8c3a4ad5a..b1eeffb95d 100644
--- a/gen/declarations.cpp
+++ b/gen/declarations.cpp
@@ -253,9 +253,12 @@ class CodegenVisitor : public Visitor {
                            decl->toPrettyChars());
     LOG_SCOPE;
 
-    if (decl->ir->isDefined()) {
+    if (decl->ir->isDefined())
+      return;
+
+    // skip external declarations (IR-declared lazily)
+    if (decl->storage_class & STCextern)
       return;
-    }
 
     if (decl->type->ty == TY::Terror) {
       error(decl->loc, "%s `%s` had semantic errors when compiling",
diff --git a/gen/llvmhelpers.cpp b/gen/llvmhelpers.cpp
index 8472433603..4ff6bf60bf 100644
--- a/gen/llvmhelpers.cpp
+++ b/gen/llvmhelpers.cpp
@@ -957,6 +957,9 @@ DValue *DtoDeclarationExp(Dsymbol *declaration) {
     // static
     if (vd->isDataseg()) {
       Declaration_codegen(vd);
+      if (vd->storage_class & STCextern) {
+        DtoResolveVariable(vd); // make sure there's an IR declaration
+      }
     } else {
       DtoVarDeclaration(vd);
     }
diff --git a/tests/codegen/avr.d b/tests/codegen/avr.d
index c473cc7dc1..1e0c4073df 100644
--- a/tests/codegen/avr.d
+++ b/tests/codegen/avr.d
@@ -11,3 +11,5 @@ version (D_SoftFloat) {} else static assert(0);
 int definedGlobal = 123;
 // CHECK: @_D3avr14declaredGlobali = external global i32
 extern int declaredGlobal;
+
+int dummyRef() { return declaredGlobal; } // make sure `declaredGlobal` is IR-declared
diff --git a/tests/codegen/export.d b/tests/codegen/export.d
index 0d16c77c69..72ef5332c2 100644
--- a/tests/codegen/export.d
+++ b/tests/codegen/export.d
@@ -5,26 +5,22 @@
 
 export
 {
-    // non-TLS:
-    __gshared
-    {
-        // CHECK: @{{.*}}exportedGlobal{{.*}} = dllexport
-        void* exportedGlobal;
-
-        // CHECK: @{{.*}}importedGlobal{{.*}} = external dllimport
-        extern void* importedGlobal;
-    }
+    // CHECK: @{{.*}}exportedGlobal{{.*}} = dllexport
+    __gshared void* exportedGlobal;
 
     // TLS: unsupported => linker errors
-    version (all)
+    // CHECK: @{{.*}}exportedTlsGlobal{{.*}} = thread_local
+    // CHECK-NOT: dllexport
+    void* exportedTlsGlobal;
+
+    extern
     {
-        // CHECK: @{{.*}}exportedTlsGlobal{{.*}} = thread_local
-        // CHECK-NOT: dllexport
-        void* exportedTlsGlobal;
+        // CHECK: @{{.*}}importedGlobal{{.*}} = external dllimport
+        __gshared void* importedGlobal;
 
         // CHECK: @{{.*}}importedTlsGlobal{{.*}} = external thread_local
         // CHECK-NOT: dllimport
-        extern void* importedTlsGlobal;
+        void* importedTlsGlobal;
     }
 
     // CHECK: define dllexport {{.*}}_D6export11exportedFooFZv
@@ -38,6 +34,8 @@ export
 
 void bar()
 {
-    exportedFoo();
+    // make sure the imported symbols are IR-declared
+    importedGlobal = null;
+    importedTlsGlobal = null;
     importedFoo();
 }
diff --git a/tests/codegen/wasi.d b/tests/codegen/wasi.d
index c5c7b8fe44..711100ae30 100644
--- a/tests/codegen/wasi.d
+++ b/tests/codegen/wasi.d
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ version (CRuntime_WASI) {} else static assert(0);
 
 // CHECK: @_D4wasi13definedGlobali = global i32 123
 int definedGlobal = 123;
-// CHECK: @_D4wasi14declaredGlobali = external global i32
-extern int declaredGlobal;
 
 
 // make sure the ModuleInfo ref is emitted into the __minfo section:
diff --git a/tests/fail_compilation/global_var_collision.d b/tests/fail_compilation/global_var_collision.d
index c51992cc5d..8760b6e3ba 100644
--- a/tests/fail_compilation/global_var_collision.d
+++ b/tests/fail_compilation/global_var_collision.d
@@ -1,9 +1,18 @@
-// RUN: not %ldc -c %s 2>&1 | FileCheck %s
+// It should compile fine when not referencing the colliding external global:
+// RUN: %ldc -c %s -d-version=DontReference
+
+// But fail if referenced:
+// RUN: not %ldc -c %s -verrors-context=false 2>&1 | FileCheck %s
 
 extern(C) extern int myGlobal;
 
-// CHECK:      global_var_collision.d(9): Error: Global variable type does not match previous declaration with same mangled name: `myGlobal`
-// CHECK:      Previous IR type: i32, mutable, thread-local
+version (DontReference) {} else
+{
+    int dummyRef() { return myGlobal; }
+}
+
+// CHECK:      global_var_collision.d([[@LINE+4]]): Error: Global variable type does not match previous declaration with same mangled name: `myGlobal`
+// CHECK-NEXT: Previous IR type: i32, mutable, thread-local
 // CHECK-NEXT: New IR type:      i64, const, non-thread-local
 pragma(mangle, myGlobal.mangleof)
 extern(C) __gshared const long myGlobal2 = 123;