Patrícia Jerónimo 3. Current citizenship regime A distinctive feature of Mozambican citizenship law continues to be the fact that most of its ground rules are set by the Constitution and not by ordinary legislation. Like its predecessor, the 2004 Constitution establishes substantive criteria for citizenship attribution, acquisition, loss and reacquisition, while referring to ordinary legislation the rules on registration and proof of citizenship acquisition,75 loss and reacquisition (Article 34), and the definition of the guarantees and requirements to be met by applicants who wish to acquire or reacquire Mozambican citizenship [e.g. Article 26 (1) (b)]. As the law now stands, the legislative acts which supplement the constitutional provisions are the 1975 Nationality Act, as amended by Law no. 16/87, and the 1975 Nationality Regulation, as amended by Decree no. 5/88. Per Article 305 of the 2004 Constitution, only the provisions in the 1975 Nationality Act and in the 1975 Nationality Regulation that do not contradict the Constitution remain in force, which requires some interpretation – not always straightforward – as to what is in fact contradictory or merely supplementary. One key aspect of the new regime which has been mired in confusion is dual citizenship (Manby 2016: 46, 49), which the 2004 Constitution clearly allows, but which still appears as grounds for citizenship deprivation in the 1975 Nationality Act. The 2004 Constitution does not expressly prescribe that dual citizenship is allowed, but makes it abundantly clear by no longer requiring that naturalisation applicants renounce their previous citizenship and by no longer listing the voluntary acquisition of a foreign citizenship as grounds for deprivation. The fact that the anti-dual-citizenship provisions in the 1975 Nationality Act have not yet been expressly repealed is immaterial, given that these provisions became unconstitutional – thereby invalid, per Article 2 (4) of the Constitution – when the 2004 Constitution came into force. Equally immaterial to the determination of whether or not Mozambican law allows dual citizenship is Article 33 of the Constitution, according to which no legal effects are to be recognised to a foreign citizenship held by someone who is also a Mozambican citizen.76 The provision in Article 33 is a standard conflict of laws rule for cases of dual citizenship and it does not mean that dual citizenship is not allowed. Its only effect is to forbid Mozambican citizens who also hold a foreign citizenship to invoke this citizenship when in Mozambique and/or when interacting with Mozambican authorities. Another possible point of contention results from the fact that the list of grounds for attribution of Mozambican citizenship in the 2004 Constitution is shorter than that of the 1975 Nationality Act and could be interpreted as meaning that the extra grounds in the Nationality Act continue to apply in addition to those listed in the Constitution. The phrasing used by the Constitution indicates however that the list of grounds is exhaustive, so the only conclusion admissible is that any extra grounds listed by the Nationality Act have been repealed with the entry into force of the 2004 Constitution. That is the case e.g. with the recognition as Mozambican citizens of those born in Mozambique during colonial times and who returned to Mozambique within 90 days after the date of independence [Article 1 (1) (d) of the Nationality Act], and of those who took part in the liberation struggle as members of FRELIMO and expressly renounced any other citizenship (Article 3 of the Nationality Act). 75 It should read ‘attribution and acquisition’, since registration is also possible (albeit not mandatory in most instances) for citizenship by birth, i.e. attributed instead of acquired. 76 In a 2012 interview on Mozambican television, a pundit mistakenly referred to this provision as proof that dual citizenship was not allowed in Mozambique. The recording of the interview is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX7PFzRODqs [28.03.2019], under the title ‘Análise: Revisão da lei de nacionalidade moçambicana’. 24 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2019/6 - © 2019 Author