Patrícia Jerónimo Article 21 (1) of the Nationality Act requires that the birth registration of children born in Timor-Leste to parents of unknown citizenship include an express mention to the unknown citizenship of the parents.110 Failure to include this mention in the birth registration cannot in any way affect the entitlement to Timorese citizenship by birth of those who fall under the hypothesis of Article 3 (2) (b) of the Constitution, contrary to what is suggested by the phrasing of Article 1 (1) (b) of the Nationality Regulation, which identifies as entitled to Timorese citizenship the individuals born in Timorese territory whose birth registration includes the mention that the parents are unknown, or that the citizenship of the parents is unknown or that it is proven that the parents are stateless. Birth in the territory to a foreign father or mother combined with declaration after the age of 17: Per Article 3 (2) (c) of the Constitution [replicated by Article 8 (1) (c) of the Nationality Act], individuals born in national territory to a foreign father or mother111 are Timorese citizens by birth, provided that they declare, of their own accord, after reaching 17 years of age, their wish to be Timorese. All persons who fall under the hypothesis of Article 3 (2) (c) are entitled to make the declaration and to be recognised as Timorese citizens by birth following the declaration. The Timorese authorities cannot oppose the declaration nor its effects. It is worth noting that, contrary to its counterpart in the 1990 Mozambican Constitution, Article 3 (2) (c) does not set a time limit for the submission of the declaration to the Timorese authorities, which means that the declaration can be made at any time.112 Also, Article 3 (2) (c) does not require a minimum residence in Timor-Leste prior to the declaration as a means to attest the existence of effective ties with the country. In its very broad phrasing, Article 3 (2) (c) includes even persons born in Timor-Leste by mere chance, due, for instance, to the fact that the mother is temporarily positioned in the country as worker for an international development program. In can be argued that, in such circumstances, the international law requirement of ‘effective ties’ between the citizen and the State is not met and that, therefore, the attribution of Timorese citizenship under Article 3 (2) (c) will not be recognised by the international community. However, absent a constitutional reform of Article 3 (2) (c) to set additional requirements, the Timorese authorities are bound to recognise as Timorese citizen anyone born in Timor-Leste to a foreign parent, as long as he or she declares his or her wish to be Timorese. The absence of effective ties with Timorese society is foreseen in the Nationality Act as grounds for opposing the acquisition or reacquisition of citizenship [Article 16 (a)], not the attribution of citizenship, which operates by mere force of the law. 110 Following a similar provision in the Cape Verdean Nationality Act, Article 21 (2) of the Timorese Nationality Act requires that, whenever possible, the unknown citizenship of the parents is attested by a document demonstrating that none of the parents is Timorese. It is hard to imagine what such a document would look like and what its practical relevance would be. 111 Article 1 (1) (c) of the Nationality Regulation reads ‘foreign father and mother’ instead of ‘foreign father or mother’. This phrasing may seem to be more logical than the one adopted in the Constitution and in the Nationality Act, since, if one of the parents is a foreigner and the other not, it will most likely be a case in which one of the parents is a Timorese citizen and therefore the child will be Timorese under Article 3 (3) of the Constitution without needing to invoke Article 3 (2) (c). It is, however, possible that one of the parents is a foreigner and the other parent is either unknown, stateless or of unknown citizenship. By requiring that both father and mother are foreigners, Article 1 (1) (c) of the Nationality Regulation is narrower than the corresponding constitutional and legal provisions, and can be deemed unconstitutional. The ‘glitch’, also found in Article 7 (1) of the Nationality Regulation, is easily corrected by an ‘interpretation in accordance with the Constitution’ which replaces the ‘and’ for the constitutional ‘or’. 112 Irrespective of when the declaration is made, however, the attribution of Timorese citizenship will have retroactive effects to the date of birth, per Article 5 of the Nationality Act. 26 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/7 - © 2017 Author