diff --git a/CRM/Contact/Import/Parser/Contact.php b/CRM/Contact/Import/Parser/Contact.php
index 41a95ebadfc1..1980d227d4df 100644
--- a/CRM/Contact/Import/Parser/Contact.php
+++ b/CRM/Contact/Import/Parser/Contact.php
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 use Civi\Api4\Contact;
 use Civi\Api4\RelationshipType;
 use Civi\Api4\StateProvince;
+use Civi\Api4\DedupeRuleGroup;
 
 require_once 'api/v3/utils.php';
 
@@ -1628,7 +1629,19 @@ protected function lookupContactID(array $params, bool $isMainContact): ?int {
       if (isset($params['relationship'])) {
         unset($params['relationship']);
       }
-      $id = $this->getPossibleContactMatch($params, $extIDMatch, $this->getSubmittedValue('dedupe_rule_id') ?: NULL);
+      $ruleId = $this->getSubmittedValue('dedupe_rule_id') ?: NULL;
+      // if this is not the main contact and the contact types are not the same
+      $mainContactType = $this->getSubmittedValue('contactType');
+      if (!$isMainContact && $params['contact_type'] !== $mainContactType) {
+        // use the unsupervised dedupe rule for this contact type
+        $ruleId = DedupeRuleGroup::get(FALSE)
+          ->addSelect('id')
+          ->addWhere('contact_type', '=', $params['contact_type'])
+          ->addWhere('used', '=', 'Unsupervised')
+          ->execute()
+          ->first()['id'];
+      }
+      $id = $this->getPossibleContactMatch($params, $extIDMatch, $ruleId);
       if ($id && $isMainContact && $this->isSkipDuplicates()) {
         throw new CRM_Core_Exception(ts('Contact matched by dedupe rule already exists in the database.'), CRM_Import_Parser::DUPLICATE);
       }
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/CRM/Contact/Import/Parser/ContactTest.php b/tests/phpunit/CRM/Contact/Import/Parser/ContactTest.php
index 1ba7d2ca852b..b78b6c7456a1 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/CRM/Contact/Import/Parser/ContactTest.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/CRM/Contact/Import/Parser/ContactTest.php
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 use Civi\Api4\Address;
 use Civi\Api4\Contact;
 use Civi\Api4\ContactType;
+use Civi\Api4\DedupeRuleGroup;
 use Civi\Api4\Email;
 use Civi\Api4\Group;
 use Civi\Api4\GroupContact;
@@ -79,13 +80,21 @@ public function testImportParserWithEmployeeOfRelationship(): void {
     $contactImportValues = [
       'first_name' => 'Alok',
       'last_name' => 'Patel',
+      'email' => 'alok@email.com',
       'Employee of' => 'Agileware',
     ];
 
     $values = array_values($contactImportValues);
+    $ruleGroupId = DedupeRuleGroup::get(FALSE)
+      ->addSelect('id')
+      ->addWhere('contact_type', '=', 'Individual')
+      ->addWhere('used', '=', 'Unsupervised')
+      ->execute()
+      ->first()['id'];
     $userJobID = $this->getUserJobID([
-      'mapper' => [['first_name'], ['last_name'], ['5_a_b', 'organization_name']],
+      'mapper' => [['first_name'], ['last_name'], ['email'], ['5_a_b', 'organization_name']],
       'onDuplicate' => CRM_Import_Parser::DUPLICATE_UPDATE,
+      'dedupe_rule_id' => $ruleGroupId,
     ]);
 
     $this->importValues($userJobID, $values, 'IMPORTED');