diff --git a/docs/about/changelog.md b/docs/about/changelog.md
index 19cdddb7d4..15bf39ba71 100644
--- a/docs/about/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/about/changelog.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ priorities and future plans.
 
 ## Work in progress
 
+- Parse forward-declared qualified classes as indirect constructors inside `new` methods (#1899).
+
 - Match Perl `Encode` aliases for ANSI X3.4-1968, HZ-GB-2312, and ISO-8859-8-I, and include the BOM when encoding generic UTF-32 (#1897).
 
 - Separate organizational and project issue queues, record temporary agent claims and dependencies, and keep agent checkpoints concise (#1895).
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/frontend/parser/SubroutineParser.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/frontend/parser/SubroutineParser.java
index e03f738f28..6709a55340 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/frontend/parser/SubroutineParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/frontend/parser/SubroutineParser.java
@@ -386,7 +386,12 @@ && isValidIndirectMethod(sourceSubName, parser)
             if ((isPackage != null && !isPackage)
                     || (isPackage == null && !isKnownSub && token.text.equals("(") && !packageName.contains("::") && subExists)
                     || (subExists && packageName.contains("::") && token.text.equals("(")
-                        && !(isPackage != null && isPackage))
+                        && !(isPackage != null && isPackage)
+                        // Inside a named `new` method, a qualified class may be
+                        // declared later in the file. Keep it as indirect
+                        // constructor syntax instead of parsing it as a direct
+                        // call to the current `new` subroutine.
+                        && !sourceSubName.equals("new"))
                     // If the method name is a known subroutine and the invocant
                     // candidate is an unknown bareword followed by a list boundary,
                     // Perl keeps the direct sub call: `foo Bar, baz` is
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/indirect_object_constructor.t b/src/test/resources/unit/indirect_object_constructor.t
index c90ae5bf37..bc23c3cc2a 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/unit/indirect_object_constructor.t
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/indirect_object_constructor.t
@@ -42,6 +42,32 @@ is(
     'require Foo::Bar marks the package for following indirect constructor syntax'
 );
 
+{
+    package IndirectObject::ForwardFactory;
+    sub new {
+        my $class = shift;
+        my $tree = new IndirectObject::Forward::Tree(@_);
+        return bless { tree => $tree }, $class;
+    }
+}
+
+{
+    package IndirectObject::Forward::Tree;
+    sub new { bless { args => [@_[1 .. $#_]] }, shift }
+}
+
+my $forward_factory = IndirectObject::ForwardFactory->new('from-forward-class');
+is(
+    ref($forward_factory->{tree}),
+    'IndirectObject::Forward::Tree',
+    'qualified indirect constructor works for a package declared later'
+);
+is_deeply(
+    $forward_factory->{tree}->{args},
+    ['from-forward-class'],
+    'qualified indirect constructor forwards arguments to a later package'
+);
+
 # A fully-qualified class used only in platform-specific code need not be
 # loaded for Perl to parse an indirect constructor followed by a method call.
 # Argv::Win32Utils uses this exact form on non-Windows platforms.