Patrícia Jerónimo cases in which a foreign State attributes its citizenship by birth to a Timorese citizen. Since Timor-Leste allows dual citizenship, it is likely that some Timorese citizens will naturalise abroad while keeping their Timorese citizenship and it is reasonable for the Timorese authorities to refuse to recognise the acquisition of a foreign citizenship and its effects in Timor-Leste under Article 29, in spite of the wording of this provision. If the competing citizenships are all foreign, Article 30 prescribes that the prevailing citizenship will be that of the state where the foreigner has his or her habitual residence or, in its absence, that of the state with which the foreigner keeps stronger ties. A final note just to mention Decree-Law no. 2/2004, of 4 February 2004 (Legal Regime of Civil Identification),104 which replaced UNTAET Regulation 2001/3. Decree-Law no. 2/2004 instituted an identity card (bilhete de identidade) for ‘national citizens’ [Article 3 (1)] to constitute sufficient evidence of the Timorese citizenship and civil identity of his or her holder vis-à-vis any public or private authorities and entities [Article 4 (1)]. The procurement of the identity card is mandatory for national citizens and its presentation is mandatory when imposed by law (Article 5). Identity cards were issued over a period of one year, between December 2009 and December 2010, according to the calendar set by Ministerial Diploma no. 073/2009, of 24 November 2009.105 In the interim, the ‘habitual resident’ identity card issued under UNTAET Regulation 2001/3 was recognised as temporarily valid [Article 50 (3) of Decree-Law no. 2/2004]. 3.1. Modes of attribution and acquisition of Timorese citizenship Birth in the territory to a father or a mother born in the territory: Instead of beginning its listing of grounds for attribution of citizenship by birth with the strongest and most evident grounds, i.e. the coincidence of ius soli and ius sanguinis, the Timorese Constitution begins with what resembles a ‘double ius soli’ provision. Timorese citizens by birth are those born in national territory to a father or a mother born in Timor-Leste [Article 3 (2) (a) of the Constitution, replicated by Article 8 (1) (a) of the Nationality Act]. This choice of wording is easy to understand if we recall that the 1990 Mozambican Constitution – after which Article 3 is modelled – begins its section on citizenship by birth with a very similar provision. Nevertheless, this wording has proven counterintuitive and some in Timor-Leste have interpreted Article 3 (2) (a) as requiring that one of the parents be a Timorese citizen (Jerónimo 2011b: 33). The Government clearly shared this interpretation at some point, since Decree-Law no. 1/2004, of 4 February 2004 (Regulation of the Nationality Act), identified as entitled to Timorese citizenship the individuals born in Timorese territory to a father or a mother born in Timor-Leste in whose birth registration is mentioned the Timorese citizenship of one of the parents [Article 1 (1) (a) of the Regulation]. This interpretation has no basis in the text of the Constitution and the restriction introduced by the Nationality Regulation is to be deemed unconstitutional. Again, however, it is not difficult to understand this legislative course. To interpret Article 3 (2) (a) of the Constitution as a double ius soli provision means the automatic attribution of Timorese citizenship by birth to the children of foreigners, 104 Regime Jurídico da Identificação Civil, available at http://www.mj.gov.tl/jornal/public/docs/2002_ 2005/decreto_lei_governo/2_2004.pdf [23.01.2017]. 105 Aprova os Modelos de Impresso de Pedido e Emissão de Bilhete de Identidade de Timorenses, available at http://www.mj.gov.tl/jornal/public/docs/2009/serie_1/serie1_no44.pdf [23.01.2017]. 24 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/7 - © 2017 Author