diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 04a7647fec..0ac3bf0f6d 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ require (
 	google.golang.org/grpc v1.42.0
 	google.golang.org/protobuf v1.27.1
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0
-	istio.io/client-go v1.13.3
 	k8s.io/api v0.23.3
 	k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver v0.23.1
 	k8s.io/apimachinery v0.23.3
@@ -163,8 +162,6 @@ require (
 	gopkg.in/gomail.v2 v2.0.0-20160411212932-81ebce5c23df // indirect
 	gopkg.in/inf.v0 v0.9.1 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.0-20210107192922-496545a6307b // indirect
-	istio.io/api v0.0.0-20220413180505-1574de06b7bd // indirect
-	istio.io/gogo-genproto v0.0.0-20211208193508-5ab4acc9eb1e // indirect
 	k8s.io/cluster-bootstrap v0.0.0 // indirect
 	k8s.io/component-helpers v0.23.1 // indirect
 	k8s.io/gengo v0.0.0-20210813121822-485abfe95c7c // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 2142d58b22..f45bf974f5 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1480,12 +1480,6 @@ honnef.co/go/tools v0.0.0-20190523083050-ea95bdfd59fc/go.mod h1:rf3lG4BRIbNafJWh
 honnef.co/go/tools v0.0.1-2019.2.3/go.mod h1:a3bituU0lyd329TUQxRnasdCoJDkEUEAqEt0JzvZhAg=
 honnef.co/go/tools v0.0.1-2020.1.3/go.mod h1:X/FiERA/W4tHapMX5mGpAtMSVEeEUOyHaw9vFzvIQ3k=
 honnef.co/go/tools v0.0.1-2020.1.4/go.mod h1:X/FiERA/W4tHapMX5mGpAtMSVEeEUOyHaw9vFzvIQ3k=
-istio.io/api v0.0.0-20220413180505-1574de06b7bd h1:2i0e183JpTuZkZzqgXlv3mosCBxv7Bt9uUB4cNe7iSM=
-istio.io/api v0.0.0-20220413180505-1574de06b7bd/go.mod h1:8ZZgyVgYrHhsFQarEgTfPnMGpdgTDZbxSjYhdwTUuAQ=
-istio.io/client-go v1.13.3 h1:xbEgTX4NRlvVRI/JsCmMI0ATvCc9P85HkQ20SphEGZ4=
-istio.io/client-go v1.13.3/go.mod h1:DeT/l4yO+bwyv0ZgavSTj7BfkA2cTckHD0jtluwtXhE=
-istio.io/gogo-genproto v0.0.0-20211208193508-5ab4acc9eb1e h1:z2WI3y55w0K3c6hmarcp5EcOiP4vVpTBXA8nYstP+cE=
-istio.io/gogo-genproto v0.0.0-20211208193508-5ab4acc9eb1e/go.mod h1:vJDAniIqryf/z///fgZqVPKJ7N2lBk7Gg8DCTB7oCfU=
 k8s.io/api v0.23.1 h1:ncu/qfBfUoClqwkTGbeRqqOqBCRoUAflMuOaOD7J0c8=
 k8s.io/api v0.23.1/go.mod h1:WfXnOnwSqNtG62Y1CdjoMxh7r7u9QXGCkA1u0na2jgo=
 k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver v0.23.1 h1:xxE0q1vLOVZiWORu1KwNRQFsGWtImueOrqSl13sS5EU=
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl-argo-rollouts/cmd/lint/lint.go b/pkg/kubectl-argo-rollouts/cmd/lint/lint.go
index de50a3f599..2969b53034 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl-argo-rollouts/cmd/lint/lint.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl-argo-rollouts/cmd/lint/lint.go
@@ -14,14 +14,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ghodss/yaml"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	goyaml "gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
-	istioNetworkingv1alpha3 "istio.io/client-go/pkg/apis/networking/v1alpha3"
-	istioNetworkingv1beta1 "istio.io/client-go/pkg/apis/networking/v1beta1"
 	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	extensionsv1beta1 "k8s.io/api/extensions/v1beta1"
 	networkingv1 "k8s.io/api/networking/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
-	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
-	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/field"
 )
 
@@ -113,7 +109,7 @@ func (l *LintOptions) lintResource(path string) error {
 			}
 			fileRollouts = append(fileRollouts, ro)
 		}
-		err = buildAllReferencedResources(gvk, valueBytes, &refResource)
+		err = buildAllReferencedResources(un, &refResource)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -144,7 +140,14 @@ func (l *LintOptions) lintResource(path string) error {
 // buildAllReferencedResources This builds a ReferencedResources object that has all the external resources for every
 // rollout resource in the manifest. We will need to later match each referenced resource to its own rollout resource
 // before passing the rollout object and its managed reference on to validation.
-func buildAllReferencedResources(gvk schema.GroupVersionKind, valueBytes []byte, refResource *validation.ReferencedResources) error {
+func buildAllReferencedResources(un unstructured.Unstructured, refResource *validation.ReferencedResources) error {
+
+	valueBytes, err := un.MarshalJSON()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	gvk := un.GroupVersionKind()
 	switch {
 	case gvk.Group == v1.GroupName && gvk.Kind == "Service":
 		var svc v1.Service
@@ -156,35 +159,8 @@ func buildAllReferencedResources(gvk schema.GroupVersionKind, valueBytes []byte,
 			Service: &svc,
 		})
 
-	case gvk.Group == istioNetworkingv1beta1.GroupName && gvk.Kind == "VirtualService":
-		var virtualServicev1beta1 istioNetworkingv1beta1.VirtualService
-		var virtualServicev1alpha3 istioNetworkingv1alpha3.VirtualService
-		if gvk.Version == "v1alpha3" {
-			err := unmarshal(valueBytes, &virtualServicev1alpha3)
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-
-			vsvcUn, err := runtime.DefaultUnstructuredConverter.ToUnstructured(&virtualServicev1alpha3)
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-			refResource.VirtualServices = append(refResource.VirtualServices, unstructured.Unstructured{
-				Object: vsvcUn,
-			})
-		} else if gvk.Version == "v1beta1" {
-			err := unmarshal(valueBytes, &virtualServicev1beta1)
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-			vsvcUn, err := runtime.DefaultUnstructuredConverter.ToUnstructured(&virtualServicev1beta1)
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-			refResource.VirtualServices = append(refResource.VirtualServices, unstructured.Unstructured{
-				Object: vsvcUn,
-			})
-		}
+	case gvk.Group == "networking.istio.io" && gvk.Kind == "VirtualService":
+		refResource.VirtualServices = append(refResource.VirtualServices, un)
 
 	case (gvk.Group == networkingv1.GroupName || gvk.Group == extensionsv1beta1.GroupName) && gvk.Kind == "Ingress":
 		var ing networkingv1.Ingress