Report on Citizenship Law: East Timor (Timor-Leste) complete or not [Article 13 (2) of the Nationality Regulation]. If the file is incomplete, the applicant is notified and given 30 days to add documents, give information or perform any other act that might be required, absent which the application is shelved [Article 13 (4)]. Once the file is complete, the National Director for Registries and Notary has eight days to order the publication of the application in several fora, at the applicant’s expenses [Article 13 (5)], following which the Director sends the file to the Public Prosecutor [Article 13 (6)]. The Public Prosecutor issues its opinion after receiving information from the National Police and the Intelligence Services and sends the complete file to the Minister of Justice who then has 30 days to decide [Article 13 (7) and (8) of the Nationality Regulation]. Per Article 17 (2) of the Nationality Act, all authorities must report to the Public Prosecutor any of the facts likely to constitute grounds for opposition under Article 16 of the Nationality Act and citizens may report such facts if they so wish. The Public Prosecutor may oppose the acquisition of Timorese citizenship on the following grounds: (a) clear inexistence of any effective ties to Timorese society; (b) conviction for crime punishable with prison sentence of more than eight years; (c) conviction for crime against the internal or external security of Timor-Leste; (d) exercise of sovereign functions on behalf of a foreign state without the Timorese Government’s permission; and (e) rendering of military service in favour of a foreign state, outside of the cases expressly authorised [Article 16 of the Nationality Act]. Subparagraphs (d) and (e) do not seem to fit in a list of grounds for acquisition of Timorese citizenship, since there is no reason why a foreigner, even if resident in Timor-Leste, would need the Timorese government’s permission to render services to foreign countries, e.g. their original state of citizenship. The inclusion of these two subparagraphs seems to be due to confusion with the grounds for loss of Timorese citizenship, which are listed in Article 14 (2) of the Nationality Act with a similar phrasing. According to Article 17 (1) of the Nationality Act, the Public Prosecutor has six months to oppose the acquisition, counted from the date of the submission of the application. This deadline seems to be overly extended and inconsistent with the timeframe set by Articles 13 and 14 of the Nationality Regulation, which give 30 days for the Minister of Justice to decide [Article 13 (8)] and 30 days for the Public Prosecutor and the applicant to appeal the Minister’s decision [Article 14 (1) (b) and (c)]. If the Minister grants naturalisation in accordance with a favourable opinion by the Public Prosecutor, the acquisition of Timorese citizenship is recognised and is registered in the Citizenship Registry [Article 14 (1) (a) of the Nationality Regulation]. If the Justice Minister decides against granting129 Timorese citizenship, in accordance with the opinion of the Public Prosecutor, the applicant may appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Justice130 within 30 days after he or she is personally notified of the decision [Article 14 (1) (b) of the Nationality Regulation]. If the Minister’s decision, either positive or negative, is contrary to the Public Prosecutor’s opinion, the Public Prosecutor must appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Justice within 30 days [Article 14 (1) (c) of the Nationality Regulation]. Naturalisation as reward for high and relevant services to Timor-Leste: The National Parliament may grant Timorese citizenship to foreigners who have rendered high and relevant 129 The term used in Article 14 (1) (b) is attribution (atribuição), which is a clear mistake on the part of the legislator, since attribution only applies to citizenship by birth and not to acquired citizenship, as mentioned earlier. 130 Article 17 (1) of the Nationality Act also mentions the possibility of an appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice while Article 17 (3) adds that, until the installation of the Supreme Court of Justice, it is incumbent upon the Timorese justices in the Court of Appeal to rule on appeals against decisions which refuse to grant Timorese citizenship. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/7 - © 2017 Author 33