UK domestic law provides for the revocation of refugee status. Paragraph 338A of the Immigration Rules requires a person’s grant of refugee status to be revoked if any of paragraphs 339A, 339AA, 339AB or 339AC apply.1

Paragraph 339AA requires revocation of refugee status where the person engages in, or is found after the granting of refugee status to have engaged in, conduct which meets the exclusion criteria in 1F of the 1951 Refugee Convention Article, as defined in section 36 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.

Section 36 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 provides that a person has committed a crime for the purposes of Article 1(F)(a) or (b) of the Refugee Convention if they have instigated or otherwise participated in the commission of the crimes specified in those provisions and that, in Article 1(F)(b), the reference to a serious non-political crime includes a particularly cruel action, even if it is committed with an allegedly political objective.2

Section 36 also states that “the reference to a crime being committed by a person outside the country of refuge prior to their admission to that country as a refugee includes a crime committed by that person at any time up to and including the day on which they are issued with a relevant biometric immigration document by the Secretary of State.” UNHCR has previously raised concerns that a similar interpretation provided for under the EU Qualification Directive is inconsistent with the geographical and temporal limitations in Article 1F(b) of the 1951 Refugee Convention, in that it interprets “outside the country of refuge prior to his or her admission as a refugee” as including time in the country of refuge prior to the issuing of refugee status. UNHCR considers that crimes committed in the country of refuge should be considered in the context of Article 33(2) of the 1951 Convention, rather than in the context of Article 1F.3

When refugee status is revoked on one of the exclusion grounds, the individual ceases to be a recognised refugee and therefore loses the rights attached to refugee status under domestic law. They may, however, be granted an alternative form of immigration status in the UK if returning them to their country of origin would, for example, breach the UK’s non-refoulement obligations notwithstanding they do not qualify as a refugee, or not be in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

• 1Immigration Rules, Part 11: Asylum. Available at:  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-11-asylum.
• 2Nationality and Borders Act 2022, Section 36. Available at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/36/section/36.
• 3UNHCR, Annotated Comments on the EC Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on Minimum Standards for the Qualification and Status of Third Country Nationals or Stateless Persons as Refugees or as Persons who otherwise need International Protection and the Content of the Protection granted (OJ L 304/12 of 30.9.2004), p. 27. Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/en-ie/43661eee2.pdf.