diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/fix-github-branch-formatter.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/fix-github-branch-formatter.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c8698f507de0a4ecaf294e0352b21b98fadffc21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/fix-github-branch-formatter.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+title: Fix branch validation for GitHub PR where repo/fork was renamed/deleted
+merge_request: 
+author: 
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/github_import/branch_formatter.rb b/lib/gitlab/github_import/branch_formatter.rb
index 4750675ae9ddf75afb954de6da314c393c40f18a..0a8d05b5fe1d327d672ee7e1d7d9531aa1e9a687 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/github_import/branch_formatter.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/github_import/branch_formatter.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ module Gitlab
       end
 
       def valid?
-        repo.present?
+        sha.present? && ref.present?
       end
 
       private
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/github_import/branch_formatter_spec.rb b/spec/lib/gitlab/github_import/branch_formatter_spec.rb
index e5300dbba1ee4951100965e66334d277dea00a35..462caa5b5fe8a6bd4c23f1c12b46508fa308f8a7 100644
--- a/spec/lib/gitlab/github_import/branch_formatter_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/github_import/branch_formatter_spec.rb
@@ -49,14 +49,20 @@ describe Gitlab::GithubImport::BranchFormatter, lib: true do
   end
 
   describe '#valid?' do
-    it 'returns true when raw repo is present' do
+    it 'returns true when raw sha and ref are present' do
       branch = described_class.new(project, double(raw))
 
       expect(branch.valid?).to eq true
     end
 
-    it 'returns false when raw repo is blank' do
-      branch = described_class.new(project, double(raw.merge(repo: nil)))
+    it 'returns false when raw sha is blank' do
+      branch = described_class.new(project, double(raw.merge(sha: nil)))
+
+      expect(branch.valid?).to eq false
+    end
+
+    it 'returns false when raw ref is blank' do
+      branch = described_class.new(project, double(raw.merge(ref: nil)))
 
       expect(branch.valid?).to eq false
     end