The grounds for withdrawal / revocation of international protection are set out in the Immigration Rules and include: (a) the grounds for exclusion in the Refugee Convention; (b) misrepresentation of facts to obtain refugee status; and (c) being a danger to the UK.[1]
The definition of someone being a danger to the UK includes where they are convicted of an offence where the sentence is at least twelve months, this is a change brought in by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.[2] The same provisions are applied to those who have been granted humanitarian protection.[3] A case promulgated in 2021 confirmed that Humanitarian Protection (subsidiary protection) can be revoked in cases of serious criminality (correcting a First Tier Tribunal decision that a higher threshold must be reached).[4]
The procedure is the same as the one outlined in the section on Cessation. A case in 2019 confirmed that revocation procedures could not apply to the dependants of refugees unless the dependant had been recognised in their own right.[5]
In January 2025, in a case where refugee status had been revoked on the grounds of national security, the Court of Appeal held that UNHCR’s guidance on Article 33(2) cases introduced a proportionality test that went beyond the requirements of the Refugee Convention.[6]
[1] Rules 339A to 339AB Immigration Rules.
[2] Section 72 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, available here.
[3] Immigration Rules paragraph 339D to 339GD.
[4] Upper Tribunal, Kakarash (revocation of HP, respondent’s policy) Iraq [2021] UKUT 236 (IAC), available here.
[5] Court of Appeal, JS (Uganda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWCA Civ 1670, available here.
[6] D8 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 33, see paragraphs 21 and 63, available here.