Try to avoid JAXBElement<?> as type of list elements. JAXB has to use this auxiliary type for elements if you have a complex element that contains a sequence consisting of elements with different tags but identical types. But you can always create distinct subtypes for each tag, even if the extension does not add anything. This means that, at the price of a few additional empty type definitions in your schema, you can avoid the bother resulting from distiguishing elements retrieved from a list not only by their class but also by their tag.