diff --git a/zerver/lib/types.py b/zerver/lib/types.py
index bbc38efa70..fe33e4cd75 100644
--- a/zerver/lib/types.py
+++ b/zerver/lib/types.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ ViewFuncT = TypeVar('ViewFuncT', bound=Callable[..., HttpResponse])
 ResultT = TypeVar("ResultT")
 Validator = Callable[[str, object], ResultT]
 ExtendedValidator = Callable[[str, str, object], str]
-RealmUserValidator = Callable[[int, List[int], bool], List[int]]
+RealmUserValidator = Callable[[int, object, bool], List[int]]
 
 class ProfileDataElementBase(TypedDict):
     id: int
diff --git a/zerver/lib/users.py b/zerver/lib/users.py
index 9c5285f2c7..5f2a2ad336 100644
--- a/zerver/lib/users.py
+++ b/zerver/lib/users.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import re
 import unicodedata
 from collections import defaultdict
-from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Sequence, Tuple, Union, cast
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Sequence, Tuple, Union
 
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ def validate_user_custom_profile_field(realm_id: int, field: CustomProfileField,
         return choice_field_validator(var_name, field_data, value)
     elif field_type == CustomProfileField.USER:
         user_field_validator = CustomProfileField.USER_FIELD_VALIDATORS[field_type]
-        return user_field_validator(realm_id, cast(List[int], value), False)
+        return user_field_validator(realm_id, value, False)
     else:
         raise AssertionError("Invalid field type")
 
diff --git a/zerver/models.py b/zerver/models.py
index ef08bc24f3..73b844e9e5 100644
--- a/zerver/models.py
+++ b/zerver/models.py
@@ -2754,9 +2754,9 @@ class UserHotspot(models.Model):
     class Meta:
         unique_together = ("user", "hotspot")
 
-def check_valid_user_ids(realm_id: int, user_ids: List[int],
+def check_valid_user_ids(realm_id: int, val: object,
                          allow_deactivated: bool=False) -> List[int]:
-    check_list(check_int)("User IDs", user_ids)
+    user_ids = check_list(check_int)("User IDs", val)
     realm = Realm.objects.get(id=realm_id)
     for user_id in user_ids:
         # TODO: Structurally, we should be doing a bulk fetch query to
diff --git a/zerver/tests/test_users.py b/zerver/tests/test_users.py
index 58df104385..c45c949eed 100644
--- a/zerver/tests/test_users.py
+++ b/zerver/tests/test_users.py
@@ -876,7 +876,7 @@ class UserProfileTest(ZulipTestCase):
         bot = self.example_user("default_bot")
 
         # Invalid user ID
-        invalid_uid: Any = 1000
+        invalid_uid: object = 1000
         with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValidationError, r"User IDs is not a list"):
             check_valid_user_ids(realm.id, invalid_uid)
         with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValidationError, rf"Invalid user ID: {invalid_uid}"):