diff --git a/src/api/form/PDFForm.ts b/src/api/form/PDFForm.ts
index e92c833fc..5bdd6d3af 100644
--- a/src/api/form/PDFForm.ts
+++ b/src/api/form/PDFForm.ts
@@ -584,7 +584,10 @@ export default class PDFForm {
 
     for (let i = 0, len = widgets.length; i < len; i++) {
       const widget = widgets[i];
-      const widgetRef = this.findWidgetAppearanceRef(field, widget);
+      const widgetRef = this.doc.context.getObjectRef(widget.dict);
+      if (widgetRef === undefined) {
+        throw new Error('Could not find PDFRef for widget annotation');
+      }
 
       const page = this.findWidgetPage(widget);
       pages.add(page);
diff --git a/tests/api/form/PDFForm.spec.ts b/tests/api/form/PDFForm.spec.ts
index 63c8edbcc..af17c5e6b 100644
--- a/tests/api/form/PDFForm.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/api/form/PDFForm.spec.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,21 @@ const getWidgets = (pdfDoc: PDFDocument) =>
 const getRefs = (pdfDoc: PDFDocument) =>
   pdfDoc.context.enumerateIndirectObjects().map(([ref]) => ref as PDFRef);
 
+const getPageWidgetAnnotRefs = (pdfDoc: PDFDocument) =>
+  flatten(
+    pdfDoc.getPages().map((page) => {
+      const annots = page.node.Annots();
+      if (!annots) return [];
+      return annots.asArray().filter((annotRef) => {
+        const obj = pdfDoc.context.lookup(annotRef);
+        return (
+          obj instanceof PDFDict &&
+          obj.get(PDFName.of('Subtype')) === PDFName.of('Widget')
+        );
+      });
+    }),
+  );
+
 const getApRefs = (widget: PDFWidgetAnnotation) => {
   const onValue = widget.getOnValue() ?? PDFName.of('Yes');
   const aps = widget.getAppearances();
@@ -328,6 +343,26 @@ describe(`PDFForm`, () => {
     rgWidgetRefs.forEach((ref) => expect(refs2).not.toContain(ref));
   });
 
+  it(`removes widget annotation refs from page Annots arrays`, async () => {
+    const pdfDoc = await PDFDocument.create();
+    const page = pdfDoc.addPage();
+    const form = pdfDoc.getForm();
+
+    const tf = form.createTextField('example.text.field');
+    tf.addToPage(page, { x: 50, y: 50, width: 100, height: 20 });
+
+    const widgetRef = pdfDoc.context.getObjectRef(
+      tf.acroField.getWidgets()[0].dict,
+    );
+
+    expect(getPageWidgetAnnotRefs(pdfDoc)).toContain(widgetRef);
+
+    form.removeField(tf);
+
+    expect(getPageWidgetAnnotRefs(pdfDoc)).not.toContain(widgetRef);
+    expect(getPageWidgetAnnotRefs(pdfDoc)).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
   it(`it cleans references of removed fields and their widgets when created with pdf-lib`, async () => {
     const pdfDoc = await PDFDocument.create();
     const page = pdfDoc.addPage();