Report on Citizenship Law: Portugal citizenship of the other state in question as well, and did not leave office or service by the deadline set by the Portuguese government.22 3. The marriage of a Portuguese woman to a foreigner automatically led to her loss of her Portuguese citizenship, unless she did not acquire her husband’s citizenship as a result of the marriage or declared prior to the wedding that she wished to keep her Portuguese citizenship. Furthermore, she would not lose her Portuguese citizenship if she rejected her husband’s citizenship, provided that the national law of her husband’s country allowed it (art. LX). 4. Citizens born on Portuguese soil who declared that they no longer wanted to be Portuguese lost their Portuguese citizenship provided they held another citizenship.23 5. Those on whom Portuguese citizenship had been conferred, or who had acquired it by an expression of intent made by their legal agent, also lost Portuguese citizenship if they declared that they did not wish to be Portuguese and proved that they held another citizenship.24 In all of the above cases (except (2)), the legislation not only considered the wishes of the person in question, but also the general interest in avoiding statelessness since renunciation only led to the loss of Portuguese citizenship if the person in question held another citizenship, and therefore would not become stateless. Following a decision taken by the cabinet, the government could furthermore decree the loss of Portuguese citizenship in the following three situations: 1) when a Portuguese with dual citizenship behaves only like a foreigner; 2) when such a person has been convicted for a crime against external security; or 3) has engaged in illicit activities to the benefit of a foreign country or its agents and against the interests of the Portuguese state (art. XX). Based on the assumption that the loss of Portuguese citizenship was open to remedy, the 1959 Act, like its predecessor, provided ways in which citizenship could be reacquired. Those who had lost their Portuguese citizenship for having acquired a foreign citizenship through naturalisation could reacquire it provided they met the following two criteria: they took up residence in Portugal and they expressed their intent to reacquire Portuguese citizenship. These requirements applied to Portuguese women who had lost Portuguese citizenship through having married a foreigner, allowing them to reacquire Portuguese citizenship following dissolution or annulment of their marriage. Moreover, those persons who had lost Portuguese citizenship because of a renunciation made before they came of age, by their legal agent, could reacquire it when they came of age, should they be residing in Portugal and express this intent. In both cases, meeting these requirements implied ex lege reacquisition (without the authorities’ involvement), and thus represented a true right for the persons concerned (art. XXII). In addition, the government could decide that citizens who had lost Portuguese citizenship by government decision, could reacquire it. Unlike the above situations, this required a discretionary act by the government. 22 The 1959 Act brought far-reaching changes compared to the 1867 Civil Code, which considered not only holding public office in a foreign state, but also accepting any honour, pension or reward from a foreign state as grounds for losing Portuguese nationality. In view of the development of international relations this precept was considered to be too severe, which was why the 1959 Act removed it (Proença 1960: 105). 23 This provision was aimed above all at children born to foreign parents and who had acquired Portuguese nationality through ius soli, as well as their parents’ foreign nationality through the effects of ius sanguinis. 24 In this case the legislator focused more on the Portuguese born abroad who had acquired Portuguese nationality through ius sanguinis on the basis of a declaration made by their legal agent (art. XVIII(e)). RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/1 - © 2020 Author 7