diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 4c1e57d..773e6af 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ cc = meson.get_compiler('c')
 enable_runtime = get_option('runtime')
 enable_builtin = get_option('builtin')
 
+# We need to know the build type to determine what .lib files we need on Visual Studio
+# for dependencies that don't normally come with pkg-config files for Visual Studio builds
+buildtype = get_option('buildtype')
+
 notfound = dependency('', required : false)
 libidn2_dep = notfound
 libicu_dep = notfound
@@ -38,7 +42,14 @@ endif
 if ['libicu', 'auto'].contains(enable_runtime) or ['libicu', 'auto'].contains(enable_builtin)
   libicu_dep = dependency('icu-uc', required : false)
   if not libicu_dep.found() and cc.has_header('unicode/ustring.h')
-    libicu_dep = cc.find_library('icuuc', required : false)
+    # MSVC: the debug configuration of ICU generated the libraries with d suffix
+    # we must handle this and search for the right library depending on the
+    # build type. Note debugoptimized is just a release build with .pdb files enabled
+    if cc.get_id() == 'msvc' and buildtype == 'debug'
+      libicu_dep = cc.find_library('icuucd', required : false)
+    else
+      libicu_dep = cc.find_library('icuuc', required : false)
+    endif
   endif
   if libicu_dep.found()
     if enable_runtime == 'auto'