Second passport for my son at the Russian consulate in Lisbon: no need to bring photos
If it really is a second passport, in addition to the current one rather than replacing it, you do not need to bring photos. The consular section in Lisbon issues a second international passport only as a biometric one, valid for ten years, and you do not hand in photos for a biometric passport at all: a member of staff takes the picture when you submit the application. Another condition is that the second passport is issued with exactly the same details as the first, including the Latin spelling of the first name and surname: if your son's current passport says, say, Goncalves, the second one will say the same. All of this is set out on the website of the consular section of the Russian Embassy in Lisbon, in the section on international passports ("General information" and "How to submit documents"); I checked the pages on 21 September 2026.
“A short report on the international passport (biometric). I waited exactly six months for an appointment to apply. Applied today. I had the form from the consulate website filled in beforehand, copies of the main pages of my current international passport and my internal passport, and a copy of the registration page. Plus the originals of both passports. The queue plus the application itself (with photo and fingerprints) took a little over an hour. The consulate staff are very friendly and cheerful. Payment 87.04 euros, cards only! The official wait is 3 months, but they said it might be quicker (though not less than two).”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkleft4portugal14.08.2025
There is one catch, though, and it depends on your son's age. At the consulate the child is photographed sitting down and has to sit up straight and keep still for a few seconds, head upright, with no other people or objects in the frame. The consulate warns plainly that if this is not possible, you should apply for an old-style five-year passport, and for children under five it even recommends the five-year passport with studio photos, because its own equipment cannot produce a picture of the required quality. But your case is different: a five-year passport cannot be a second passport. A new passport cannot be issued without cancelling the previous one, and the only exception is a second passport, which is always biometric. So with a small child the choice is this: either a biometric second passport, in which case no photos are needed but you will have to get your son to sit still in front of the camera, or a five-year passport, but as a replacement for the current one.
“For the 5-year one you need to bring your own photos (which is what we did, we even printed them at home), and for the 10-year one they take the photo at the consulate. And a baby won't look at the camera properly.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkberemennost_portugal26.10.2025
“They do issue the 10-year one, they just try to scare you by saying that over time the child will stop looking like the photo and you may be asked to replace it early. There is no legal minimum age for the 10-year passport. Their website says it is advisable to get the 10-year one once the child turns 5.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkberemennost_portugal07.11.2025
If you do end up going for the five-year passport, you will need photos: four identical colour photos of the child, 3.5 × 4.5 cm, and two of the same kind of you, as the legal representative. They must be printed; a file on your phone will not do. People usually have them done at photo studios in shopping centres, which photograph children too.
“We had the photos done at Vasco da Gama. Honestly, it's a real shame that a shopping centre can photograph a child, and in Russia any public services centre can do it even for the 10-year passport, but the consulate can't get decent equipment 😢”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkberemennost_portugal04.08.2026
What to bring when applying for your son's second, biometric, passport. You have to come with the child: the legal representative submits the application in the child's presence. Bring: your valid international passport (the original and a copy of the photo page) — this is compulsory, and without it the documents will not be accepted; your Russian internal passport, if you have one, with copies of the photo page and the registration page; a document showing that you are the legal representative — usually the birth certificate naming you as a parent, original and copy; your son's current international passport, the original and a copy of the photo page; from the age of 14, the child's internal passport as well; the application form in one copy, printed double-sided on a single sheet, plus a separate sheet with its barcode. If you or your son have changed your surname or first name two or more times, a separate annex to the application with the old and new details is required. The form is filled in beforehand on the Russian Foreign Ministry website for new-generation passports, and no photo needs to be stuck on it. Fingerprints are taken from the age of 12; younger children are not fingerprinted.
Procedure and timing. You book an appointment to submit the documents through the consular section's online queue website; passport documents are accepted on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, by appointment only. There is no separate "second passport" service in the booking system: you choose the ordinary submission of passport documents and, when you apply, say that the passport is a second one and the first must not be cancelled. The form says "replacing" throughout, and this regularly confuses people. The official processing time is up to three months. You can check whether the biometric passport is ready using the registration number on the receipt you are given when you apply; ready passports are handed out on the mornings of the same four days, on a first-come, first-served basis. A child's passport is collected by the same parent who applied (it will not be given to the other parent), and from the age of 14 the child must come to collect it in person; under 14 this is not required. Passports that are not collected are destroyed after a year.
How much it costs. Under the embassy's schedule of fees, in force since 26 December 2024, a biometric passport for a child under 14 costs 50 dollars, which is 48 euros at the exchange rate set in the schedule; from 14 you pay the adult rate of 90 dollars, or 86 euros. The five-year passport is cheaper: 15 dollars (14 euros) for a child under 14 and 35 dollars (34 euros) from 14. The fee is paid at the cash desk on the day you apply, by bank card only; cash is not accepted.