diff --git a/packages/cli/src/routeGeneration/templates/koa.hbs b/packages/cli/src/routeGeneration/templates/koa.hbs
index a4cb818d3..458b09394 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/routeGeneration/templates/koa.hbs
+++ b/packages/cli/src/routeGeneration/templates/koa.hbs
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@ import type { IocContainer, IocContainerFactory } from '@tsoa/runtime';
 import type { Middleware } from 'koa';
 import type * as KoaRouter from '@koa/router';
 {{#if useFileUploads}}
+{{#if esm}}
+import multer from '@koa/multer';
+{{else}}
 const multer = require('@koa/multer');
+{{/if}}
 const upload = multer({{{json multerOpts}}});
 {{/if}}