diff --git a/include/tvm/runtime/container/variant.h b/include/tvm/runtime/container/variant.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7953ac47c1cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/tvm/runtime/container/variant.h
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+/*!
+ * \file tvm/runtime/container/variant.h
+ * \brief Runtime Variant container types.
+ */
+#ifndef TVM_RUNTIME_CONTAINER_VARIANT_H_
+#define TVM_RUNTIME_CONTAINER_VARIANT_H_
+
+#include <tvm/runtime/object.h>
+
+#include <tuple>
+#include <type_traits>
+#include <utility>
+
+namespace tvm {
+namespace runtime {
+
+namespace detail {
+template <typename Parent, typename ChildTuple>
+constexpr bool parent_is_base_of_any = false;
+
+template <typename Parent, typename... Child>
+constexpr bool parent_is_base_of_any<Parent, std::tuple<Child...>> =
+    ((std::is_base_of_v<Parent, Child> && !std::is_same_v<Parent, Child>) || ...);
+
+/* \brief Utility to check if any parent is a base class of any child
+ *
+ * The type-checking in Variant relies on all types being from
+ * independent types, such that `Object::IsInstance` is sufficient to
+ * determine which variant is populated.
+ *
+ * For example, suppose the illegal `Variant<tir::Var, tir::PrimExpr>`
+ * were allowed (e.g. to represent either the defintion of a variable
+ * or the usage of a variable).  If a function returned
+ * `tir::PrimExpr`, it could result in either variant being filled, as
+ * the underlying type at runtime could be a `tir::Var`.  This
+ * behavior is different from `std::variant`, which determines the
+ * active variant based solely on the compile-time type, and could
+ * produce very unexpected results if the variants have different
+ * semantic interpretations.
+ */
+template <typename ParentTuple, typename ChildTuple>
+static constexpr bool any_parent_is_base_of_any_child = false;
+
+template <typename ChildTuple, typename... Parent>
+static constexpr bool any_parent_is_base_of_any_child<std::tuple<Parent...>, ChildTuple> =
+    (parent_is_base_of_any<Parent, ChildTuple> || ...);
+}  // namespace detail
+
+template <typename... V>
+class Variant : public ObjectRef {
+  static constexpr bool all_inherit_from_objectref = (std::is_base_of_v<ObjectRef, V> && ...);
+  static_assert(all_inherit_from_objectref,
+                "All types used in Variant<...> must inherit from ObjectRef");
+
+  static constexpr bool a_variant_inherits_from_another_variant =
+      detail::any_parent_is_base_of_any_child<std::tuple<V...>, std::tuple<V...>>;
+  static_assert(!a_variant_inherits_from_another_variant,
+                "Due to implementation limitations, "
+                "no type stored in a tvm::runtime::Variant "
+                "may be a subclass of any other type "
+                "stored in the same variant.");
+
+ public:
+  /* \brief Helper utility to check if the type is part of the variant */
+  template <typename T>
+  static constexpr bool is_variant = (std::is_same_v<T, V> || ...);
+
+  /* \brief Helper utility for SFINAE if the type is part of the variant */
+  template <typename T>
+  using enable_if_variant = std::enable_if_t<is_variant<T>>;
+
+  template <typename T, typename = enable_if_variant<T>>
+  Variant(T value) : ObjectRef(std::move(value)) {}  // NOLINT(*)
+
+  template <typename T, typename = enable_if_variant<T>>
+  Variant& operator=(T value) {
+    ObjectRef::operator=(std::move(value));
+    return *this;
+  }
+
+  // These functions would normally be declared with the
+  // TVM_DEFINE_OBJECT_REF_METHODS macro.  However, we need additional
+  // type-checking inside the ObjectPtr<Object> constructor.
+  using ContainerType = Object;
+  Variant() : ObjectRef() {}
+  explicit Variant(ObjectPtr<Object> node) : ObjectRef(node) {
+    CHECK(node == nullptr || (node->IsInstance<typename V::ContainerType>() || ...))
+        << "Variant<"
+        << static_cast<const std::stringstream&>(
+               (std::stringstream() << ... << V::ContainerType::_type_key))
+               .str()
+        << "> cannot hold an object of type " << node->GetTypeKey();
+  }
+  TVM_DEFINE_DEFAULT_COPY_MOVE_AND_ASSIGN(Variant);
+};
+
+}  // namespace runtime
+
+// expose the functions to the root namespace.
+using runtime::Variant;
+
+}  // namespace tvm
+
+#endif  // TVM_RUNTIME_CONTAINER_VARIANT_H_
diff --git a/include/tvm/runtime/packed_func.h b/include/tvm/runtime/packed_func.h
index 7aa8ef1ba7ff..caaaec364068 100644
--- a/include/tvm/runtime/packed_func.h
+++ b/include/tvm/runtime/packed_func.h
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <tvm/runtime/c_runtime_api.h>
 #include <tvm/runtime/container/array.h>
 #include <tvm/runtime/container/map.h>
+#include <tvm/runtime/container/variant.h>
 #include <tvm/runtime/data_type.h>
 #include <tvm/runtime/logging.h>
 #include <tvm/runtime/module.h>
@@ -680,9 +681,6 @@ class TVMArgValue : public TVMPODValue_ {
     } else if (type_code_ == kTVMStr) {
       return std::string(value_.v_str);
     } else {
-      ICHECK(IsObjectRef<tvm::runtime::String>())
-          << "Could not convert TVM object of type " << runtime::Object::TypeIndex2Key(type_code_)
-          << " to a string.";
       return AsObjectRef<tvm::runtime::String>().operator std::string();
     }
   }
@@ -2063,6 +2061,56 @@ struct PackedFuncValueConverter<Optional<T>> {
   }
 };
 
+template <typename... VariantTypes>
+struct PackedFuncValueConverter<Variant<VariantTypes...>> {
+  using VType = Variant<VariantTypes...>;
+
+  // Can't just take `const TVMPODValue&` as an argument, because
+  // `TVMArgValue` and `TVMRetValue` have different implementations
+  // for `operator std::string()`.
+  template <typename PODSubclass>
+  static VType From(const PODSubclass& val) {
+    if (auto opt = TryAsObjectRef<VariantTypes...>(val)) {
+      return opt.value();
+    }
+
+    if (auto opt = TryValueConverter<PODSubclass, VariantTypes...>(val)) {
+      return opt.value();
+    }
+
+    LOG(FATAL) << "Expected one of "
+               << static_cast<const std::stringstream&>(
+                      (std::stringstream() << ... << VariantTypes::ContainerType::_type_key))
+                      .str()
+               << " but got " << ArgTypeCode2Str(val.type_code());
+  }
+
+  template <typename VarFirst, typename... VarRest>
+  static Optional<VType> TryAsObjectRef(const TVMPODValue_& val) {
+    if (val.IsObjectRef<VarFirst>()) {
+      return VType(val.AsObjectRef<VarFirst>());
+    } else if constexpr (sizeof...(VarRest)) {
+      return TryAsObjectRef<VarRest...>(val);
+    } else {
+      return NullOpt;
+    }
+  }
+
+  template <typename PODSubclass, typename VarFirst, typename... VarRest>
+  static Optional<VType> TryValueConverter(const PODSubclass& val) {
+    try {
+      return VType(PackedFuncValueConverter<VarFirst>::From(val));
+    } catch (const InternalError&) {
+    }
+
+    if constexpr (sizeof...(VarRest)) {
+      return TryValueConverter<PODSubclass, VarRest...>(val);
+    } else {
+      return NullOpt;
+    }
+  }
+};
+
 inline bool String::CanConvertFrom(const TVMArgValue& val) {
   return val.type_code() == kTVMStr || val.IsObjectRef<tvm::runtime::String>();
 }
diff --git a/src/support/ffi_testing.cc b/src/support/ffi_testing.cc
index 6e7dec4cb776..690794fa61d1 100644
--- a/src/support/ffi_testing.cc
+++ b/src/support/ffi_testing.cc
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
  */
 #include <tvm/ir/attrs.h>
 #include <tvm/ir/env_func.h>
+#include <tvm/runtime/container/variant.h>
 #include <tvm/runtime/module.h>
 #include <tvm/runtime/registry.h>
 #include <tvm/te/tensor.h>
@@ -165,4 +166,15 @@ TVM_REGISTER_GLOBAL("testing.sleep_in_ffi").set_body_typed([](double timeout) {
   std::this_thread::sleep_for(duration);
 });
 
+TVM_REGISTER_GLOBAL("testing.ReturnsVariant").set_body_typed([](int x) -> Variant<String, IntImm> {
+  if (x % 2 == 0) {
+    return IntImm(DataType::Int(64), x / 2);
+  } else {
+    return String("argument was odd");
+  }
+});
+
+TVM_REGISTER_GLOBAL("testing.AcceptsVariant")
+    .set_body_typed([](Variant<String, Integer> arg) -> String { return arg->GetTypeKey(); });
+
 }  // namespace tvm
diff --git a/tests/cpp/container_test.cc b/tests/cpp/container_test.cc
index d75a510d0c95..5c9af19f9bc9 100644
--- a/tests/cpp/container_test.cc
+++ b/tests/cpp/container_test.cc
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <tvm/runtime/container/array.h>
 #include <tvm/runtime/container/map.h>
 #include <tvm/runtime/container/string.h>
+#include <tvm/runtime/container/variant.h>
 #include <tvm/tir/function.h>
 #include <tvm/tir/op.h>
 
@@ -853,3 +854,49 @@ TEST(Optional, PackedCall) {
   test_ffi(s, static_cast<int>(kTVMObjectHandle));
   test_ffi(String(s), static_cast<int>(kTVMObjectRValueRefArg));
 }
+
+TEST(Variant, Construct) {
+  Variant<PrimExpr, String> variant;
+  variant = PrimExpr(1);
+  ICHECK(variant.as<PrimExpr>());
+  ICHECK(!variant.as<String>());
+
+  variant = String("hello");
+  ICHECK(variant.as<String>());
+  ICHECK(!variant.as<PrimExpr>());
+}
+
+TEST(Variant, InvalidTypeThrowsError) {
+  auto expected_to_throw = []() {
+    ObjectPtr<Object> node = make_object<Object>();
+    Variant<PrimExpr, String> variant(node);
+  };
+
+  EXPECT_THROW(expected_to_throw(), InternalError);
+}
+
+TEST(Variant, ReferenceIdentifyPreservedThroughAssignment) {
+  Variant<PrimExpr, String> variant;
+  ICHECK(!variant.defined());
+
+  String string_obj = "dummy_test";
+  variant = string_obj;
+  ICHECK(variant.defined());
+  ICHECK(variant.same_as(string_obj));
+  ICHECK(string_obj.same_as(variant));
+
+  String out_string_obj = Downcast<String>(variant);
+  ICHECK(string_obj.same_as(out_string_obj));
+}
+
+TEST(Variant, ExtractValueFromAssignment) {
+  Variant<PrimExpr, String> variant = String("hello");
+  ICHECK_EQ(variant.as<String>().value(), "hello");
+}
+
+TEST(Variant, AssignmentFromVariant) {
+  Variant<PrimExpr, String> variant = String("hello");
+  auto variant2 = variant;
+  ICHECK(variant2.as<String>());
+  ICHECK_EQ(variant2.as<String>().value(), "hello");
+}
diff --git a/tests/python/unittest/test_ir_container.py b/tests/python/unittest/test_ir_container.py
index 1915849e1044..aa482dd65cd7 100644
--- a/tests/python/unittest/test_ir_container.py
+++ b/tests/python/unittest/test_ir_container.py
@@ -112,5 +112,31 @@ def test_ndarray_container():
     assert isinstance(arr[0], tvm.nd.NDArray)
 
 
+def test_return_variant_type():
+    func = tvm.get_global_func("testing.ReturnsVariant")
+    res_even = func(42)
+    assert isinstance(res_even, tvm.tir.IntImm)
+    assert res_even == 21
+
+    res_odd = func(17)
+    assert isinstance(res_odd, tvm.runtime.String)
+    assert res_odd == "argument was odd"
+
+
+def test_pass_variant_type():
+    func = tvm.get_global_func("testing.AcceptsVariant")
+
+    assert func("string arg") == "runtime.String"
+    assert func(17) == "IntImm"
+
+
+def test_pass_incorrect_variant_type():
+    func = tvm.get_global_func("testing.AcceptsVariant")
+    float_arg = tvm.tir.FloatImm("float32", 0.5)
+
+    with pytest.raises(Exception):
+        func(float_arg)
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     tvm.testing.main()