Under the Geneva Convention, to which the UK is a signatory, a refugee is someone who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is unable, or, owing to such fear, is unwilling, to return to her/his home country. There is no universally accepted definition of 'persecution' for the purposes of the Geneva Convention, but the harm suffered must be sufficiently serious and must be for one of the five convention reasons. An asylum seeker must be able to show that s/he has a well-founded fear of persecution in her/his home country (or, in the case of dual nationals, countries) because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, and that the state has failed to provide adequate protection. A particular social group must consist of people who share, other than their risk of persecution, a common characteristic which is innate or otherwise fundamental to their identity, conscience or exercise of human rights, or who are perceived by society as a group. Women or homosexual men may form a particular social group with a well-founded fear of persecution depending on the circumstances in their home countries. It has also been held that women who can show that they are at risk of genital mutilation form a particular social group with a well-founded fear of persecution. A person can also be granted refugee status if the situation in her/his country has suddenly changed and s/he is now at risk.
In the UK, refugee status is granted by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to someone who has proved her/his case for asylum. Once the UKBA recognises someone as a refugee, it will grant her/him five years' leave to remain in the UK.
For further information call in or telephone your local CAB.
Please note that this answer is correct as of November 2011