São Toméan ID Photo

The Portrait Accompanying a São Toméan Identity Card Request

The Bilhete de Identidade is a central civil identification document in São Tomé & Príncipe. The Directorate General of Registries and Notaries lists two photographs for a first identity card application, together with the applicant’s personal or birth record and payment evidence. Preparing those images as a matched pair helps keep the photo component straightforward while the office verifies the underlying registration. A clear portrait and accurate civil details serve different parts of the same identity check.

Access abroad is also developing. In February 2026, the Foreign Ministry announced a document-service system at the embassy in Portugal that includes requests for the polycarbonate identity card. That announcement should not be read as an identical online process at every embassy. Applicants using an overseas service should check how their prints or image file must be delivered and which supporting identity documents are needed for their circumstances. Our embassy and consulate directory helps locate the relevant post, while the civil registry remains the authority for the record itself.

Choose a current recognisable likeness before producing copies, particularly when a previous card carries a much younger photograph. Inspect photo quality at the final size, with clear facial features, balanced framing and a plain background. Save the original digital photograph so any additional copy can come from the same image rather than a scan of the finished card. The photo requirements below provides a useful visual checklist; confirm the issuing office’s current format instructions before ordering the final pair.