diff --git a/src/HotChocolate/Data/src/Data/Projections/Expressions/Handlers/QueryableProjectionFieldHandler.cs b/src/HotChocolate/Data/src/Data/Projections/Expressions/Handlers/QueryableProjectionFieldHandler.cs
index 97b4ba117bb..3b4f636c996 100644
--- a/src/HotChocolate/Data/src/Data/Projections/Expressions/Handlers/QueryableProjectionFieldHandler.cs
+++ b/src/HotChocolate/Data/src/Data/Projections/Expressions/Handlers/QueryableProjectionFieldHandler.cs
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ namespace HotChocolate.Data.Projections.Expressions.Handlers;
 public class QueryableProjectionFieldHandler
     : QueryableProjectionHandlerBase
 {
+    private static readonly NullabilityInfoContext s_nullability = new();
+
     public override bool CanHandle(Selection selection)
         => !selection.IsLeaf && CanProjectMember(selection);
 
@@ -74,18 +76,15 @@ public override bool TryHandleLeave(
             throw ThrowHelper.ProjectionVisitor_InvalidState_NoParentScope();
         }
 
-        Expression nestedProperty;
-        if (field.Member is PropertyInfo propertyInfo)
-        {
-            nestedProperty = Expression.Property(context.GetInstance(), propertyInfo);
-        }
-        else
+        if (field.Member is not PropertyInfo propertyInfo)
         {
             action = SelectionVisitor.Skip;
 
             return true;
         }
 
+        var nestedProperty = Expression.Property(context.GetInstance(), propertyInfo);
+
         // If the nested scope has no projectable members we keep the original value.
         // This happens for members like JsonDocument where selected subfields are read-only.
         if (!queryableScope.HasAbstractTypes() && queryableScope.Level.Peek().Count == 0)
@@ -101,7 +100,7 @@ public override bool TryHandleLeave(
 
         var memberInit = queryableScope.CreateMemberInit();
 
-        if (context.InMemory)
+        if (context.InMemory && ShouldApplyNullGuard(propertyInfo))
         {
             parentScope.Level
                 .Peek()
@@ -119,5 +118,29 @@ public override bool TryHandleLeave(
         return true;
     }
 
+    private static bool ShouldApplyNullGuard(PropertyInfo property)
+    {
+        if (property.PropertyType.IsValueType)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // Preserve the existing null-guard behavior for entity-like references. For
+        // value-object/complex-like references (non-null and no identity member), the guard
+        // generates unsupported complex-type null comparisons on EF Core 8/9.
+        if (s_nullability.Create(property).ReadState is not NullabilityState.NotNull)
+        {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        return HasIdentityMember(property.PropertyType);
+    }
+
+    private static bool HasIdentityMember(Type type)
+        => type.GetProperty(
+                "Id",
+                BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.IgnoreCase)
+            is not null;
+
     public static QueryableProjectionFieldHandler Create(ProjectionProviderContext context) => new();
 }
diff --git a/src/HotChocolate/Data/test/Data.Projections.SqlServer.Tests/Issue6604ReproTests.cs b/src/HotChocolate/Data/test/Data.Projections.SqlServer.Tests/Issue6604ReproTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..62a5b9a0516
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/HotChocolate/Data/test/Data.Projections.SqlServer.Tests/Issue6604ReproTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+using HotChocolate.Execution;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+
+namespace HotChocolate.Data.Projections;
+
+public class Issue6604ReproTests
+{
+    private readonly SchemaCache _cache = new();
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task Projection_On_NonNullable_Complex_Type_Should_Not_Fail()
+    {
+        var users =
+            new[]
+            {
+                new User
+                {
+                    Id = 1,
+                    Username = "user-1",
+                    EmailAddress = "user-1@example.com",
+                    AccountStatus = new UserAccountStatus
+                    {
+                        IsRegistrationCompleted = true
+                    }
+                }
+            };
+
+        var executor = _cache.CreateSchema(
+            users,
+            onModelCreating: modelBuilder =>
+                modelBuilder.Entity<User>().ComplexProperty(x => x.AccountStatus));
+
+        var result = await executor.ExecuteAsync(
+            """
+            {
+              root {
+                id
+                username
+                accountStatus {
+                  isRegistrationCompleted
+                }
+              }
+            }
+            """);
+
+        var operationResult = result.ExpectOperationResult();
+        Assert.Empty(operationResult.Errors ?? []);
+    }
+
+    public class User
+    {
+        public int Id { get; set; }
+
+        public string Username { get; set; } = default!;
+
+        public string EmailAddress { get; set; } = default!;
+
+        public UserAccountStatus AccountStatus { get; set; } = default!;
+    }
+
+    public class UserAccountStatus
+    {
+        public bool IsRegistrationCompleted { get; set; }
+    }
+}