Portugal Passport Photo: You Usually Do Not Bring One — Biometric Data Taken at the Counter

“Portugal passport photo size” is a common search, but for the regular passport the honest answer is that you do not bring a photograph at all.

Regular passport: the photo is taken for you

• Portugal (SIMplifica Madeira): the adult applicant appears in person with a valid Cartão de Cidadão or Bilhete de Identidade (and the previous passport for a renewal); “os dados biométricos são recolhidos no balcão de atendimento, não sendo necessário levar fotografia” — biometric data are collected at the counter and no photograph is needed.
• Consulate General in Montreal: “Não é necessário trazer fotografia.”
• Consulate General in Zurich: “Não são necessárias fotografias” for the regular passport.
• Consulate General in Luanda: the photograph for the new passport is taken at the consulate, with specific equipment.
• Salvador da Bahia: attend in person, because biometric data (photograph, height, fingerprints, signature) are collected; wearing white “interferes with the quality of the photo and may delay delivery”, so choose another colour to avoid a technical rejection and a second trip.

Babies and small children

Montreal advises that, for babies and children up to 2 years, to avoid waiting, you e-mail a photograph in .jpg format of at least 830 pixels wide and 1100 pixels high.

Temporary passport: now you need photos

The temporary passport is requested only in exceptional cases, is not electronic and is valid for one year (gov.pt). The consulates in Zurich, Paris and Salvador da Bahia list “duas fotografias do rosto do requerente, tipo passe, iguais, obtidas há menos de um ano, a cores e fundo liso, com boas condições de identificação e medidas adequadas ao modelo de passaporte” — two identical passport-type face photographs, taken less than a year ago, in colour, plain background, good identification conditions, measurements suited to the passport model. Luanda asks for three; Boston lists two passport-type photographs.

The regular electronic passport can be renewed or replaced at any time, and no second copies are issued, only new passports. Abroad it is issued by the Portuguese consular posts.

For other Portuguese documents that do need a picture, see our Portugal passport photo page.