Report on Citizenship Law: Mozambique While it is arguable that many of the questions associated with the interplay between the Constitution and the Nationality Act are easily addressed with recourse to classic hermeneutical tools of the civil law tradition, it would certainly be advisable – for legal certainty sake – for the Mozambican legislator to adopt a new Nationality Act to repeal both the 1975 Nationality Act and the 1975 Nationality Regulation. Among the aspects missing from the current legal framework, one that is crucial is judicial review of administrative decisions in matters of citizenship, e.g. decisions which dismiss a naturalisation application or refuse to register a citizenship acquisition or attribution (Gouveia 2004: 122). The current regime only provides for an administrative appeal to the Minister of Justice, in cases where a civil registry official refuses to comply with a registration request (Article 23 of the Nationality Regulation). Furthermore, as the law stands, except for citizenship acquired by naturalisation, the Minister of Justice can annul citizenship registrations at any time on the grounds that the legal requirements for attribution, acquisition, loss or reacquisition have not been met, and the interested parties are only entitled to be informed and to submit their defence before the decision is rendered [Article 22 (1) and (2) of the Nationality Regulation]. Also, the registration of citizenship acquired by marriage can be annulled without informing the interested party and with no right to appeal whenever the authorities deem that he or she does not offer moral and political guarantees of integration into Mozambican society [Article 22 (3) of the Nationality Regulation]. 3.1. Modes of attribution and acquisition of Mozambican citizenship Attribution based on birth in Mozambique to a father or a mother born in Mozambique: Continuing Mozambique’s long tradition of double ius soli, Article 23 (1) (a) of the Constitution recognises as Mozambican citizens those born in Mozambique to a father or a mother also born in Mozambique. Read in conjunction with Article 24, which establishes a broad and unconditional ius soli rule for those born in Mozambique after independence, with the usual diplomatic exception, the practical relevance of Article 23 (1) (a) is now limited to individuals born before independence to a mother or a father also born in Mozambique. For those born in Mozambique after independence, the birth in the territory suffices for the attribution, so the parents’ birth in Mozambique becomes irrelevant. The Nationality Regulation does not require registration of those who are citizens by birth under this provision [Article 2 (2) a contrario], but prescribes that they may be asked to prove that they meet the requirements for attribution of citizenship by birth when exercising rights or applying for offices reserved for Mozambican citizens [Article 3 (2)]. Per Article 4 (1) of the Nationality Regulation, Mozambican citizenship is assumed for all individuals born in Mozambique, provided that their birth registration does not include any mention to the contrary. Attribution based on birth in Mozambique to stateless parents, parents of unknown citizenship and unknown parents: Article 23 (1) (b) of the Constitution recognises as Mozambican citizens those born in Mozambique to stateless parents or to parents of unknown citizenship. In what appears to be a typo, this provision uses two terms which are synonymous when referring to the unknown citizenship of the parents (de nacionalidade desconhecida ou incógnita) and ends up leaving out the cases in which the parents themselves are unknown. While the typo should certainly be corrected at the earliest opportunity – for the sake of consistency, if nothing else –, it is probably of no consequence RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2019/6 - © 2019 Author 25