diff --git a/mesonbuild/build.py b/mesonbuild/build.py
index 138f1ae03233..cce5888c8805 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/build.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/build.py
@@ -1271,10 +1271,7 @@ def process_kwargs(self, kwargs: BuildTargetKeywordArguments) -> None:
         self.pch['c'] = kwargs.get('c_pch')
         self.pch['cpp'] = kwargs.get('cpp_pch')
 
-        self.link_args = extract_as_list(kwargs, 'link_args')
-        for i in self.link_args:
-            if not isinstance(i, str):
-                raise InvalidArguments('Link_args arguments must be strings.')
+        self.link_args = kwargs.get('link_args', [])
         for l in self.link_args:
             if '-Wl,-rpath' in l or l.startswith('-rpath'):
                 mlog.warning(textwrap.dedent('''\
diff --git a/mesonbuild/interpreter/type_checking.py b/mesonbuild/interpreter/type_checking.py
index 28280a996538..e80ed7c6d75b 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/interpreter/type_checking.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/interpreter/type_checking.py
@@ -740,6 +740,12 @@ def _pch_convertor(args: T.List[str]) -> T.Optional[T.Tuple[str, T.Optional[str]
         since='0.48.0',
     ),
     KwargInfo('install_rpath', str, default=''),
+    KwargInfo(
+        'link_args',
+        ContainerTypeInfo(list, str),
+        default=[],
+        listify=True,
+    ),
     KwargInfo(
         'link_depends',
         ContainerTypeInfo(list, (str, File, CustomTarget, CustomTargetIndex, BuildTarget)),