The international protection status can be lost or withdrawn by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes).

Loss of the status

The refugee status is lost for beneficiaries who:

• claim protection from their country of origin; or
• have voluntarily returned to their country of origin; or
• have acquired a new nationality and can claim protection from that country; or
• have voluntarily reacquired a lost nationality; or
• can no longer refuse to claim protection from their country of nationality, given that the circumstances leading to their refugee status have ceased to exist; or
• if they are stateless: they are able to return to the country where they used to reside, given that the circumstances that have led to their refugee status have ceased to exist.

The subsidiary protection status ceases if the circumstances that have justified the granting of protection cease or have evolved to a level where subsidiary protection is no longer necessary.

Withdrawal of the status

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs can decide to withdraw the refugee status if:

• de facto alterations or omissions, including the use of false documents, played a major part in the granting of the refugee status; or
• the applicant should have been excluded from international protection, as there are strong grounds to believe that they have committed a crime against humanity, a crime against peace, an act of war or a serious criminal offense outside Luxembourg; or
• reasonable motives have led to believe that the refugee represents a menace to the country's safety; or
• the refugee is sentenced by a final judgement of a particularly serious criminal offence.

Subsidiary protection can be withdrawn if:

• de facto alterations or omissions, including the use of false documents, played a major part in the granting of subsidiary protection; or
• the applicant should have been excluded from international protection, as there are strong grounds to believe that the applicant has committed crimes against humanity, a crime against peace, an act of war or a serious criminal offense outside Luxembourg.

Appeal against the decision to withdraw international protection

It is possible to submit an appeal to the administrative court against the decision to withdraw international protection and against the notice to leave the territory, within the framework of the normal procedure.

A single appeal must cover both the decision and notice; if two different appeals are submitted they will be deemed ineligible. The deadline for submitting an appeal is one month from the notification of the decision.

The time limit for submitting an appeal and an appeal submitted within the time limit have a suspensory effect.

An appeal against a decision issued by the administrative court may be made within one month of notification of the decision. The time limit for submitting an appeal and an appeal submitted within the time limit will have a suspensory effect.

Please note that appeals against a ministerial decision to refuse an application will not suspend the time limit for submitting an appeal.

Appeals to the administrative court must be submitted via a lawyer.