diff --git a/modules/ingest-common/src/main/java/org/opensearch/ingest/common/RemoveProcessor.java b/modules/ingest-common/src/main/java/org/opensearch/ingest/common/RemoveProcessor.java
index 99243b4df86be..309d411ffcff5 100644
--- a/modules/ingest-common/src/main/java/org/opensearch/ingest/common/RemoveProcessor.java
+++ b/modules/ingest-common/src/main/java/org/opensearch/ingest/common/RemoveProcessor.java
@@ -88,10 +88,10 @@ public IngestDocument execute(IngestDocument document) {
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("cannot remove metadata field [" + path + "]");
             }
             // removing _id is disallowed when there's an external version specified in the request
-            if (path.equals(IngestDocument.Metadata.ID.getFieldName())) {
+            if (path.equals(IngestDocument.Metadata.ID.getFieldName())
+                && document.hasField(IngestDocument.Metadata.VERSION_TYPE.getFieldName())) {
                 String versionType = document.getFieldValue(IngestDocument.Metadata.VERSION_TYPE.getFieldName(), String.class, true);
-                if (Objects.equals(versionType, VersionType.toString(VersionType.EXTERNAL))
-                    || Objects.equals(versionType, VersionType.toString(VersionType.EXTERNAL_GTE))) {
+                if (!Objects.equals(versionType, VersionType.toString(VersionType.INTERNAL))) {
                     Long version = document.getFieldValue(IngestDocument.Metadata.VERSION.getFieldName(), Long.class, true);
                     throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                         "cannot remove metadata field [_id] when specifying external version for the document, version: "
diff --git a/modules/ingest-common/src/test/java/org/opensearch/ingest/common/RemoveProcessorTests.java b/modules/ingest-common/src/test/java/org/opensearch/ingest/common/RemoveProcessorTests.java
index 5eb76fdbc8508..c138ad606d2e5 100644
--- a/modules/ingest-common/src/test/java/org/opensearch/ingest/common/RemoveProcessorTests.java
+++ b/modules/ingest-common/src/test/java/org/opensearch/ingest/common/RemoveProcessorTests.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 package org.opensearch.ingest.common;
 
+import org.opensearch.common.lucene.uid.Versions;
 import org.opensearch.index.VersionType;
 import org.opensearch.ingest.IngestDocument;
 import org.opensearch.ingest.Processor;
@@ -180,8 +181,86 @@ public void testRemoveMetadataField() throws Exception {
                         assertThat(ingestDocument.hasField(metadataFieldName), equalTo(false));
                     }
         }
+    }
+
+    public void testRemoveDocumentId() throws Exception {
+        Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
+        config.put("field", IngestDocument.Metadata.ID.getFieldName());
+        String processorTag = randomAlphaOfLength(10);
+
+        // test remove _id when _version_type is external
+        IngestDocument ingestDocumentWithExternalVersionType = new IngestDocument(
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
+            1L,
+            VersionType.EXTERNAL,
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomSource(random())
+        );
+
+        Processor processorForExternalVersionType = new RemoveProcessor.Factory(TestTemplateService.instance()).create(
+            null,
+            processorTag,
+            null,
+            config
+        );
+        assertThrows(
+            "cannot remove metadata field [_id] when specifying external version for the document, version: "
+                + 1
+                + ", version_type: "
+                + VersionType.EXTERNAL,
+            IllegalArgumentException.class,
+            () -> processorForExternalVersionType.execute(ingestDocumentWithExternalVersionType)
+        );
+
+        // test remove _id when _version_type is external_gte
+        config.put("field", IngestDocument.Metadata.ID.getFieldName());
+        IngestDocument ingestDocumentWithExternalGTEVersionType = new IngestDocument(
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
+            1L,
+            VersionType.EXTERNAL_GTE,
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomSource(random())
+        );
+
+        Processor processorForExternalGTEVersionType = new RemoveProcessor.Factory(TestTemplateService.instance()).create(
+            null,
+            processorTag,
+            null,
+            config
+        );
+        assertThrows(
+            "cannot remove metadata field [_id] when specifying external version for the document, version: "
+                + 1
+                + ", version_type: "
+                + VersionType.EXTERNAL_GTE,
+            IllegalArgumentException.class,
+            () -> processorForExternalGTEVersionType.execute(ingestDocumentWithExternalGTEVersionType)
+        );
+
+        // test remove _id when _version_type is internal
+        config.put("field", IngestDocument.Metadata.ID.getFieldName());
+        IngestDocument ingestDocumentWithInternalVersionType = new IngestDocument(
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
+            Versions.MATCH_ANY,
+            VersionType.INTERNAL,
+            RandomDocumentPicks.randomSource(random())
+        );
+
+        Processor processorForInternalVersionType = new RemoveProcessor.Factory(TestTemplateService.instance()).create(
+            null,
+            processorTag,
+            null,
+            config
+        );
+        processorForInternalVersionType.execute(ingestDocumentWithInternalVersionType);
+        assertThat(ingestDocumentWithInternalVersionType.hasField(IngestDocument.Metadata.ID.getFieldName()), equalTo(false));
 
         // test remove _id when _version_type is null
+        config.put("field", IngestDocument.Metadata.ID.getFieldName());
         IngestDocument ingestDocumentWithNoVersionType = new IngestDocument(
             RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
             RandomDocumentPicks.randomString(random()),
@@ -190,11 +269,13 @@ public void testRemoveMetadataField() throws Exception {
             null,
             RandomDocumentPicks.randomSource(random())
         );
-        Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
-        config.put("field", IngestDocument.Metadata.ID.getFieldName());
-        String processorTag = randomAlphaOfLength(10);
-        Processor processor = new RemoveProcessor.Factory(TestTemplateService.instance()).create(null, processorTag, null, config);
-        processor.execute(ingestDocumentWithNoVersionType);
+        Processor processorForNullVersionType = new RemoveProcessor.Factory(TestTemplateService.instance()).create(
+            null,
+            processorTag,
+            null,
+            config
+        );
+        processorForNullVersionType.execute(ingestDocumentWithNoVersionType);
         assertThat(ingestDocumentWithNoVersionType.hasField(IngestDocument.Metadata.ID.getFieldName()), equalTo(false));
     }
 }