diff --git a/packages/typescript-estree/src/create-program/useProvidedPrograms.ts b/packages/typescript-estree/src/create-program/useProvidedPrograms.ts
index b8e958ed34f2..cd51c92100d2 100644
--- a/packages/typescript-estree/src/create-program/useProvidedPrograms.ts
+++ b/packages/typescript-estree/src/create-program/useProvidedPrograms.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ const log = debug(
 export function useProvidedPrograms(
   programInstances: Iterable<ts.Program>,
   parseSettings: ParseSettings,
-): ASTAndDefiniteProgram | undefined {
+): ASTAndDefiniteProgram {
   log(
     'Retrieving ast for %s from provided program instance(s)',
     parseSettings.filePath,
diff --git a/packages/typescript-estree/src/parser.ts b/packages/typescript-estree/src/parser.ts
index 1c0c6e42aa83..2841d1b1bc39 100644
--- a/packages/typescript-estree/src/parser.ts
+++ b/packages/typescript-estree/src/parser.ts
@@ -68,13 +68,7 @@ function getProgramAndAST(
   }
 
   if (parseSettings.programs) {
-    const fromProvidedPrograms = useProvidedPrograms(
-      parseSettings.programs,
-      parseSettings,
-    );
-    if (fromProvidedPrograms) {
-      return fromProvidedPrograms;
-    }
+    return useProvidedPrograms(parseSettings.programs, parseSettings);
   }
 
   // no need to waste time creating a program as the caller didn't want parser services