Patrícia Jerónimo Mozambican citizenship, which means that state authorities have no discretion and therefore cannot oppose nor deny the acquisition under this provision. This ground for acquisition was only introduced by the 2004 Constitution and therefore is not covered by the regulatory provisions in the Nationality Regulation. In any case, it is to be assumed that, since the adoption is decreed by court decision (Article 389 of the Family Act), it should suffice that the adopting persons request the registration of their adopted children as Mozambican citizens, before the Central Registry Office, with presentation of copy of the court decision, their identification documents and the child’s identification documents. Acquisition by facilitated naturalisation based on relevant services to the state: According to Article 27 (2) of the Constitution, foreigners who rendered relevant services to the Mozambican state may acquire Mozambican citizenship by naturalisation with dispensation of the residence and language requirements set by Article 27 (1) (a) and (c). The determination of whether a foreigner has rendered relevant services to the state is to be made ‘under the terms set by ordinary legislation’, which is far from clear. In any case, the competence to grant Mozambican citizenship under this provision rests with the Minister of Interior and the procedure to be followed is that of regular naturalisation, as governed by Articles 14 and 15 of the Nationality Regulation. 3.2. Modes of loss of Mozambican citizenship Since the entry into force of the 2004 Constitution, Mozambican citizens can no longer be deprived of their citizenship. Article 31 of the 2004 Constitution departed from the previous regime by eliminating all grounds for involuntary loss. With some redundancy, since both paragraphs are cases of renunciation and the hypothesis in paragraph (a) could perfectly well cover the specific case of paragraph (b), Article 31 prescribes that loss of Mozambican citizenship occurs when: (a) its holder, while being a citizen of another state, declares by the competent means his or her wish not to be Mozambican; and (b) its holder obtained Mozambican citizenship as a result of declaration made by his or her legal representatives and declares, within one year after turning 21, his/her wish not to be Mozambican, provided that he/she proves to hold another citizenship. If the deadline set by Article 31 (b) elapses, renunciation is still available at any time under Article 31 (a). While the right to a citizenship is not expressly recognised as a fundamental right in the Mozambican legal system, as is the case e.g. in Angola, Mozambican citizenship is better protected, since it can no longer be withdrawn against its holder’s will and renunciation is only allowed provided that it does not lead to statelessness. Contrary to what happens in Angola, Mozambican law never treated citizenship by birth and acquired citizenship differently for purposes of loss. Before 2004, both citizenship statuses could be lost against its holders’ will and now none can be. For the reasons already mentioned in this report, with the entry into force of the 2004 Constitution, the provisions on loss in the 1975 Nationality Act (Articles 14 and 15) were repealed and replaced by Article 31 and can no longer be applied in practice. As for the provisions in the 1975 Nationality Regulation, some were straight out repealed, since they refer to the procedure for deprivation [Articles 17 and 18 (1) to (4)], while others may still apply with the necessary adaptations. The declaration of the wish not to be Mozambican is 34 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2019/6 - © 2019 Author