Patrícia Jerónimo letter from the Indonesian Justice Ministry (International Crisis Group 2011: 10). Many of the East Timorese who remain in Indonesia are held back by this lack of clarity regarding their legal status in Timor-Leste, in particular by the fear that their access to property and basic political rights will not be upheld upon return (International Crisis Group 2011: 1, 10-11). 3. Current citizenship regime The ground rules for attribution of Timorese citizenship by birth are set in Article 3 of the Timorese Constitution, but the bulk of the citizenship regime is defined by Law no. 9/2002, of 5 November 2002 (Nationality Act),78 and by Decree-Law no. 1/2004, of 4 February 2004 (Regulation of the Nationality Act).79 All remain in force in their original versions. As mentioned earlier, the normative framework resulting from these three sources is not always consistent, which can be explained to some extent by the overlap of different foreign influences. Although the Timorese Constitution bears a striking resemblance to the Portuguese Constitution of 1976, it seems to have been the Mozambican Constitution of 1990 to influence the drafting of Article 3, with the inclusion of substantive criteria for attribution of citizenship by birth, instead of the mere reference to ordinary legislation or international treaty that we find in Article 4 of the Portuguese Constitution.80 The Mozambican influence can be seen, not only in the definition of substantive criteria,81 but also in the drafting of Article 3 (2) and (3). The wording of the two first subparagraphs of Article 3 (2) is almost identical to that of their Mozambican counterparts. Per Article 11 (1) (a) and (b) of the 1990 Constitution of Mozambique, Mozambicans were those who, having been born in Mozambique, were children of a father or a mother born in Mozambique (a), or were children of stateless or unknown parents or of parents of unknown citizenship (b).82 As for Article 3 (2) (c) of the Timorese Constitution, it seems to resonate Article 12 (3) of the 1990 Mozambican Constitution, which ruled that individuals born in Mozambique to foreign parents, after the proclamation of independence, would only have Mozambican citizenship if they declared by themselves, if older than 18 years of age, or through their legal representatives, if underage, their wish to be Mozambican. Similarities can also be found between Article 3 (3) of the Timorese Constitution and Article 14 of the 1990 Mozambican Constitution, which attributed Mozambican citizenship to individuals born to a Mozambican father or mother who had fought for independence, even if they were born abroad before the proclamation of independence. The citizenship regime set by the Timorese Constitution, 78 Lei da Nacionalidade, available at http://www.mj.gov.tl/jornal/public/docs/2002_2005/leis_ parlamento_nacional/9_2002.pdf [22.01.2017]. 79 Regulamento da Lei da Nacionalidade, available at http://www.mj.gov.tl/jornal/public/docs/ 2002_2005/decreto_lei_governo/1_2004.pdf [22.01.2017]. 80 The text of the 1976 Portuguese Constitution is available at http://www.tribunalconstitucional.pt/ tc/crp.html [22.01.2017]. 81 In this aspect, the Mozambican Constitution is not different from other Lusophone Constitutions, such as that of Brazil. See Jerónimo (2016). 82 The 1990 Constitution of Mozambique is available at http://www.resdal.org/Archivo/d000009e.htm [19.01.2017]. The Constitution was replaced in 2006, but the provisions on citizenship were kept practically untouched. The 2006 Constitution of Mozambique is available at http://www.presidencia.gov.mz/files/ republica/constituicao_republica_moc.pdf [19.01.2017]. 20 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/7 - © 2017 Author