Voltage source converter based high-voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) transmission technology has been extensively employed in power systems with a high penetration of renewable energy resources. However, connecting a voltage source converter (VSC) to an AC weak grid may cause the converter system to become unstable. In this paper, a phase-shift phase-locked loop (PS-PLL) is proposed wherein a back electromotive force (BEMF) observer is added to the conventional phase-locked loop (PLL). The BEMF observer is used to observe the voltage of the infinite grid in the stationary αβ frame, which avoids the problem of inaccurate observations of the grid voltage in the dq frame that are caused by the output phase angle errors of the PLL. The VSC using the PS-PLL can operate as if it is facing a strong grid, thus enhancing the stability of the VSC-HVDC system. The proposed PS-PLL only needs to be properly modified on the basis of a traditional PLL, which makes it easy to implement. In addition, because it is difficult to obtain the exact impedance of the grid, the influence of short-circuit ratio (SCR) estimation errors on the performance of the PS-PLL is also studied. The effectiveness of the proposed PS-PLL is verified by the small-signal stability analysis and time-domain simulation.