Dim proxyType As Type = GetType(System.Net.WebProxy)
    MsgBox(proxyType.FullName)

    Dim reflProxyType As Type = Type.GetType(proxyType.FullName)
    MsgBox(reflProxyType.FullName) ' Here, reflProxyType is null => NullReferenceException

Dim systemType As Type = GetType(System.Text.StringBuilder)
    MsgBox(systemType.FullName)

    Dim reflSystemType As Type = Type.GetType(systemType.FullName)
    MsgBox(reflSystemType.FullName) ' Here, everything works fine