| (1) | A person ceases to qualify for refugee status for the purposes of this Act if— |
| (a) | he or she voluntarily re-avails himself or herself of the protection of the country of his or her nationality; or |
| (b) | having lost his or her nationality, he or she by some voluntary and formal act re-acquires it; or |
| (c) | he or she becomes a permanent resident or a citizen of the Republic or acquires the nationality of some other country and enjoys the protection of that country: Provided that a person whose permanent residence status is withdrawn is not prevented from re-applying for refugee status; or |
| (d) | he or she voluntarily re-establishes himself or herself in the country which he or she left or outside of which he or she remained owing to fear of persecution, or returns to visit such country; or |
| (e) | he or she can no longer continue to refuse to avail himself or herself of the protection of the country of his or her nationality because the circumstances in connection with which he or she has been recognised as a refugee have ceased to exist and no other circumstances have arisen which justify his or her continued recognition as a refugee; or |
| (f) | he or she has committed a crime in the Republic, which is listed in Schedule 2 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1997 (Act No. 105 of 1997), or which is punishable by imprisonment without the option of a fine; or |
| (g) | he or she has committed an offence in relation to the fraudulent possession, acquisition or presentation of a South African identity card, passport, travel document, temporary residence visa or permanent residence permit; or |
| (h) | the Minister may issue an order to cease the recognition of the refugee status of any individual refugee or category of refugees, or to revoke such status. |
[Section 5(1) substituted by section 3 of Act No. 1452, GG 41343, dated 18 December 2017]
| (2) | Subsection (1)(e) does not apply to a refugee who is able to invoke compelling reasons arising out of previous persecution for refusing to avail himself or herself of the protection of the country of nationality. |
| (3) | The refugee status of a person who ceases to qualify for it in terms of subsection (1) may be withdrawn in terms of section 36. |
