diff --git a/src/Uno.Wasm.Bootstrap/ShellTask.cs b/src/Uno.Wasm.Bootstrap/ShellTask.cs
index 00e81c287..c5008aa69 100644
--- a/src/Uno.Wasm.Bootstrap/ShellTask.cs
+++ b/src/Uno.Wasm.Bootstrap/ShellTask.cs
@@ -776,7 +776,13 @@ private void RunPackager()
 
 			DirectoryCreateDirectory(workAotPath);
 
-			var referencePathsParameter = string.Join(" ", _referencedAssemblies.Select(Path.GetDirectoryName).Distinct().Select(r => $"--search-path=\"{AlignPath(r)}\""));
+			var referencePathsParameter = string.Join(
+				" "
+				, _referencedAssemblies.Select(Path.GetDirectoryName).Distinct().Select(r => $"--search-path=\"{AlignPath(r)}\""));
+
+			var referenceAssembliesParameter = string.Join(
+				" "
+				, _referencedAssemblies.Distinct().Select(r => $"--asm-ref=\"{AlignPath(r)}\""));
 
 			var metadataUpdaterPath = Path.Combine(BuildTaskBasePath, "..", "tools", "support", "Uno.Wasm.MetadataUpdater.dll");
 
@@ -824,7 +830,7 @@ private void RunPackager()
 
 			var enableICUParam = EnableNetCoreICU ? "--icu" : "";
 			var monovmparams = $"--framework=net5 --runtimepack-dir=\"{AlignPath(MonoWasmSDKPath)}\" {enableICUParam} {pthreadPoolSizeParam} --illinker-path=\"{_linkerBinPath}\"";
-			var pass1ResponseContent = $"{runtimeConfigurationParam} {appDirParm} {monovmparams} --zlib {debugOption} {referencePathsParameter} \"{AlignPath(TryConvertLongPath(Path.GetFullPath(Assembly)))}\"";
+			var pass1ResponseContent = $"{runtimeConfigurationParam} {appDirParm} {monovmparams} --zlib {debugOption} {referenceAssembliesParameter} {referencePathsParameter} \"{AlignPath(TryConvertLongPath(Path.GetFullPath(Assembly)))}\"";
 
 			var packagerPass1ResponseFile = Path.Combine(workAotPath, "packager-pass1.rsp");
 			File.WriteAllText(packagerPass1ResponseFile, pass1ResponseContent);
@@ -935,6 +941,7 @@ private void RunPackager()
 				packagerParams.Add(EmccLinkOptimization ? "--emcc-link-optimization" : "");
 				packagerParams.Add(MonoILLinker ? "--linker --link-mode=all" : "");
 				packagerParams.Add(referencePathsParameter);
+				packagerParams.Add(referenceAssembliesParameter);
 				packagerParams.Add(GenerateAOTProfile ? "--profile=aot" : "");
 				packagerParams.Add(EnableLogProfiler ? "--profile=log" : "");
 				packagerParams.Add(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(WasmTunerBinPath) ? $"\"--wasm-tuner-path={AlignPath(Path.GetFullPath(WasmTunerBinPath))}\"" : "");
@@ -1008,6 +1015,11 @@ private void RunPackager()
 
 					var assemblyPath = Path.Combine(linkerInput, Path.GetFileName(Assembly));
 
+					// Use explicit assemby references first
+					var referenceAssemblyPaths = _referencedAssemblies.Distinct().Select(p => $"-reference \"{p}\" ");
+					linkerParams.AddRange(referenceAssemblyPaths);
+
+					// Then search for other known paths
 					var linkerSearchPaths = _referencedAssemblies.Select(Path.GetDirectoryName).Distinct().Select(p => $"-d \"{p}\" ");
 					linkerParams.AddRange(linkerSearchPaths);
 					linkerParams.Add($"-d \"{_bclPath}\"");
diff --git a/src/Uno.Wasm.Packager/CapturingAssemblyResolver.cs b/src/Uno.Wasm.Packager/CapturingAssemblyResolver.cs
index 658ab85eb..5d45f9776 100644
--- a/src/Uno.Wasm.Packager/CapturingAssemblyResolver.cs
+++ b/src/Uno.Wasm.Packager/CapturingAssemblyResolver.cs
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@
 class CapturingAssemblyResolver : DefaultAssemblyResolver
 {
 	private List<Dictionary<string, string>> _files;
+	private List<string> _assembly_references;
+
+	public CapturingAssemblyResolver(List<string> assembly_references)
+	{
+		_assembly_references = assembly_references;
+	}
 
 	protected override AssemblyDefinition SearchDirectory(AssemblyNameReference name, IEnumerable<string> directories, ReaderParameters parameters)
 	{
@@ -19,6 +25,24 @@ protected override AssemblyDefinition SearchDirectory(AssemblyNameReference name
 			// paying the cost of File.Exists
 
 			_files = new List<Dictionary<string, string>>();
+
+			// Fill all the known references first, so they get resolved
+			// using compilation paths.
+			var explicitAssembliesPaths = new Dictionary<string, string>();
+			foreach (var asmReferencePath in _assembly_references)
+			{
+				if (Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(asmReferencePath) is { } asmName)
+				{
+					if (!explicitAssembliesPaths.ContainsKey(asmName))
+					{
+						explicitAssembliesPaths.Add(asmName, asmReferencePath);
+					}
+				}
+			}
+
+			_files.Add(explicitAssembliesPaths);
+
+			// Use all other search paths
 			string[] extensions = new[] { ".winmd", ".dll", ".exe", ".dll" };
 
 			foreach (var directory in directories.Where(Directory.Exists))
diff --git a/src/Uno.Wasm.Packager/packager.cs b/src/Uno.Wasm.Packager/packager.cs
index 26a61ffb8..49593947e 100644
--- a/src/Uno.Wasm.Packager/packager.cs
+++ b/src/Uno.Wasm.Packager/packager.cs
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ class Driver {
 	static List<string>  file_list = new List<string> ();
 	static HashSet<string> assemblies_with_dbg_info = new HashSet<string> ();
 	static List<string> root_search_paths = new List<string>();
+	static List<string> assembly_references = new List<string>();
 	static CapturingAssemblyResolver resolver;
 
 	const string BINDINGS_ASM_NAME_MONO = "WebAssembly.Bindings";
@@ -278,7 +279,7 @@ static void Import (string ra, AssemblyKind kind) {
 
 		if (resolver == null)
 		{
-			resolver = new CapturingAssemblyResolver();
+			resolver = new CapturingAssemblyResolver(assembly_references);
 			root_search_paths.ForEach(resolver.AddSearchDirectory);
 			foreach (var prefix in bcl_prefixes)
 				resolver.AddSearchDirectory(prefix);
@@ -554,6 +555,7 @@ int Run (string[] args) {
 				{ "template=", s => runtimeTemplate = s },
 				{ "asset=", s => assets.Add(s) },
 				{ "search-path=", s => root_search_paths.Add(s) },
+				{ "asm-ref=", s => assembly_references.Add(s) },
 				{ "profile=", s => profilers.Add (s) },
 				{ "copy=", s => copyTypeParm = s },
 				{ "aot-assemblies=", s => aot_assemblies = s },
@@ -1584,6 +1586,7 @@ int Run (string[] args) {
 		ninja.WriteLine ("rule linker");
 		var linkerBin = "dotnet \'$linker_dir/illink.dll\'";
 
+		var assemblyRefPaths = assembly_references.Distinct().Select(p => $"-reference \"{p}\" ");
 		var linkerSearchPaths = root_search_paths.Concat(bcl_prefixes).Distinct().Select(p => $"-d \"{p}\" ");
 
 		var tunerBinary = string.IsNullOrEmpty(wasm_tuner_path)
@@ -1597,6 +1600,7 @@ int Run (string[] args) {
 		linker_args.Add($"-out ./linker-out --deterministic --disable-opt unreachablebodies");
 		linker_args.Add($"--strip-link-attributes");
 		linker_args.Add(extra_linkerflags);
+		linker_args.AddRange(assemblyRefPaths);
 		linker_args.AddRange(linkerSearchPaths);
 
 		ninja.WriteLine ($"  command = {tools_shell_prefix} {linkerBin} \'@{linkerResponse}\' {exitCommand}; {tunerCommand} --gen-empty-assemblies \'@$builddir/tuner.rsp\'");