How to Become a Notary in North Carolina — Requirements & Fees

How to become a notary public in North Carolina: a required course, an exam — verified from official sources.

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State (Elaine F. Marshall), Notary Public Section. The commission is issued by the Secretary, but the notary is sworn in and the official record of qualification is kept by the REGISTER OF DEEDS of the notary's county. (official site) and last verified August 12, 2026. Boards change fees and rules often — confirm before acting.

Requirements at a glance

1) Meet the statutory qualifications in G.S. 10B-5(b) (age, residence or work in NC, lawful US residence, English, high school diploma or equivalent, the course, the manual, a clean application). 2) Take the course and pass the exam: 'Every applicant for an initial notary commission shall, within the three months preceding application, take a course of classroom instruction of not less than six hours approved by the Secretary and take a written examination approved by the Secretary. An applicant must answer at least eighty percent (80%) of the questions correctly in order to pass the exam. This subsection shall not apply to a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar' (G.S. 10B-8(a)). The Secretary of State's Become a Notary page directs applicants to 'Find a Notary Public Course Near You' at the North Carolina Community Colleges, N.C. State University, Gaston College, Greensboro College and Guilford College. 3) Buy the manual - it is a statutory qualification, not a suggestion: the applicant must 'Purchase and keep as a reference the most recent manual approved by the Secretary that describes the duties and authority of notaries public' (G.S. 10B-5(b)(7)); the Secretary of State's site links the current edition ('Order 2026 Manual (includes eNotary)', published by the UNC School of Government). 4) Submit the application with the $50 fee: 'The application form shall be provided by the Secretary and be available at the register of deeds office in each county. Every application shall include the signature of the applicant, and the signature shall be acknowledged by the applicant before a person authorized to administer oaths. An applicant's signature on an initial application shall be written with pen and ink. The Secretary may allow applications for commissions to be submitted electronically, in the format prescribed by the Secretary.' 5) Take the oath at the register of deeds within 45 days: 'The appointee shall appear before the register of deeds no later than 45 days after commissioning and shall be duly qualified by taking the general oath of office prescribed in G.S. 11-11 and the oath prescribed for officers in G.S. 11-7' (G.S. 10B-10(b)). The register of deeds then records the notary record - name and signature as commissioned, effective and expiration dates, the date the oath was administered - which 'shall constitute the official record of the qualification of notaries public' - and delivers the commission. 6) Buy the official seal (G.S. 10B-36). Until the oath is administered the commission does nothing: 'Any notarial acts performed before the administration of the oath of office, either the original commissioning or recommissioning, are invalid.'

Legal basis

North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State (Elaine F. Marshall), Notary Public Section. The commission is issued by the Secretary, but the notary is sworn in and the official record of qualification is kept by the REGISTER OF DEEDS of the notary’s county. commissions notaries public in North Carolina. Every figure below is verified against the commissioning authority’s own official pages and dated.

What it’s called

The statutory noun is ’notary public’ and the instrument is a COMMISSION - Chapter 10B defines ‘Commission’ as the empowerment to perform notarial acts together with ’the written evidence of authority to perform those acts’, and G.S. 10B-9 is headed ‘Length of term and jurisdiction’. North Carolina emphasises the office: the Secretary of State’s notary page opens ‘Notaries are public officers of the State of North Carolina charged with protecting the public from fraud and forgery’, and the appointee is sworn in under ’the general oath of office prescribed in G.S. 11-11 and the oath prescribed for officers in G.S. 11-7’. ‘Notary license’ and ’notary certification’ are folk terms; North Carolina issues no notary licence - the only thing Chapter 10B calls a licence is the $5,000 PLATFORM licence issued to a remote-notarization technology vendor under G.S. 10B-134.19, which is a different thing entirely and a common source of confusion. ’eNotary’ is the state’s own shorthand for a notary who has registered the capability to notarize electronically (Article 2). ‘EVN’ is emergency video notarization under G.S. 10B-25, a temporary video procedure that is NOT remote electronic notarization. ‘RON’ / remote electronic notarization is Part 4A. ‘Notary signing agent’ and ’loan signing agent’ are not North Carolina credentials and appear nowhere in Chapter 10B.

Types of notary commission

Notary public commission (paper / tangible records) — Any qualifying person who resides or has a regular place of work or business in North Carolina Five-year term: ‘A person commissioned under this Chapter may perform notarial acts in any part of this State for a term of five years, unless the commission is earlier revoked or resigned. No commissions shall be effective prior to the administration of the oath of office’ (G.S. 10B-9). The commission is county-based for administrative purposes: ‘The notary shall be commissioned in his or her county of residence, unless the notary is not a North Carolina resident, in which case he or she shall be commissioned in the county of his or her employment or business’ (G.S. 10B-5(c)) - but the AUTHORITY is statewide.
Electronic notary (eNotary) registration — A commissioned North Carolina notary who wants to notarize electronic documents A registration on top of the commission: ‘A notary shall register the capability to notarize electronically or remotely with the Secretary in accordance with rules adopted by the Secretary before performing notarial acts pursuant to this Article’ (G.S. 10B-106(a)). It costs $50 in addition to the commission fee (G.S. 10B-108) and requires ‘a course of instruction of least four hours approved by the Secretary and pass an examination of this course, which shall be in addition to the educational requirements provided in Article 1’ (G.S. 10B-107(a)). ‘The term of registration as an electronic notary shall coincide with the term of the notary’s commission.’
Remote electronic notarization (RON) authority under Part 4A — An electronic notary who also meets the Part 4A requirements NOT a third credential - it rides on the eNotary registration: ‘Registration as an electronic notary shall include authorization to perform remote electronic notarial acts if the electronic notary complies with all requirements of this Article and the rules related to remote electronic notarial acts’ (G.S. 10B-106(b)). The binding constraint is the PLATFORM: ‘An electronic notary shall use only a communication technology through a platform licensed by the Secretary’, and a platform applicant must ‘pay a licensing fee of five thousand dollars ($5,000)’ (G.S. 10B-134.19). As of the Secretary of State’s live site notice read 2026-08-12, no platform licence had yet been issued - see ron_detail.
Emergency video notarization (EVN) — Any commissioned North Carolina notary, as a temporary bridge until remote electronic notarization goes live A time-limited statutory alternative under G.S. 10B-25 that allows notarization by video conference technology with a mandatory journal. Its sunset has been extended repeatedly; the Secretary of State’s site notice read on 2026-08-12 states EVNs run to 12:01 AM on July 1, 2027 ‘or until the first license is issued for Remote Electronic Notarizations.’

Who can be commissioned

G.S. 10B-5(b), current text: ‘(1) Be at least 18 years of age or legally emancipated as defined in Article 35 of Chapter 7B of the General Statutes. (2) Reside or have a regular place of work or business in this State. (3) Reside legally in the United States. (4) Speak, read, and write the English language. (5) Possess a high school diploma or equivalent. (6) Pass the course of instruction described in this Article, unless the person is a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar. (7) Purchase and keep as a reference the most recent manual approved by the Secretary that describes the duties and authority of notaries public. (8) Submit an application containing no significant misstatement or omission of fact.’ North Carolina is therefore one of the few states that requires BOTH a high school diploma and lawful US residence, and it states an English-language qualification in terms. Non-residents qualify through work: a notary who is not a North Carolina resident ‘shall be commissioned in the county of his or her employment or business’ (G.S. 10B-5(c)). Criminal history: G.S. 10B-5(d) lets the Secretary deny a commission or recommission on enumerated grounds; the full subsection was not readable in the sources fetched, so this record does not enumerate the disqualifying convictions rather than guess at them. NOTE A CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO OFFICIAL NORTH CAROLINA SOURCES: the Chapter 10B PDF that the Secretary of State hosts on its own site still contains the older requirement that most applicants ‘obtain the recommendation of one publicly elected official in North Carolina whose recommendation shall be contained on the application’, while the General Assembly’s current codified text of G.S. 10B-5(b)(8) does not contain that sentence and (b)(9) is shown as ‘Repealed by Session Laws 2013-204, s. 1, effective July 1, 2013.’ The SOS-hosted compilation carries no session-law history later than 2005-391 anywhere in its text - it is a stale copy - so the General Assembly’s text governs; both are recorded so a verifier is not surprised by the discrepancy.

Requirements

Meet the statutory qualifications in G.S. 10B-5(b) (age, residence or work in NC, lawful US residence, English, high school diploma or equivalent, the course, the manual, a clean application). 2) Take the course and pass the exam: ‘Every applicant for an initial notary commission shall, within the three months preceding application, take a course of classroom instruction of not less than six hours approved by the Secretary and take a written examination approved by the Secretary. An applicant must answer at least eighty percent (80%) of the questions correctly in order to pass the exam. This subsection shall not apply to a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar’ (G.S. 10B-8(a)). The Secretary of State’s Become a Notary page directs applicants to ‘Find a Notary Public Course Near You’ at the North Carolina Community Colleges, N.C. State University, Gaston College, Greensboro College and Guilford College. 3) Buy the manual - it is a statutory qualification, not a suggestion: the applicant must ‘Purchase and keep as a reference the most recent manual approved by the Secretary that describes the duties and authority of notaries public’ (G.S. 10B-5(b)(7)); the Secretary of State’s site links the current edition (‘Order 2026 Manual (includes eNotary)’, published by the UNC School of Government). 4) Submit the application with the $50 fee: ‘The application form shall be provided by the Secretary and be available at the register of deeds office in each county. Every application shall include the signature of the applicant, and the signature shall be acknowledged by the applicant before a person authorized to administer oaths. An applicant’s signature on an initial application shall be written with pen and ink. The Secretary may allow applications for commissions to be submitted electronically, in the format prescribed by the Secretary.’ 5) Take the oath at the register of deeds within 45 days: ‘The appointee shall appear before the register of deeds no later than 45 days after commissioning and shall be duly qualified by taking the general oath of office prescribed in G.S. 11-11 and the oath prescribed for officers in G.S. 11-7’ (G.S. 10B-10(b)). The register of deeds then records the notary record - name and signature as commissioned, effective and expiration dates, the date the oath was administered - which ‘shall constitute the official record of the qualification of notaries public’ - and delivers the commission. 6) Buy the official seal (G.S. 10B-36). Until the oath is administered the commission does nothing: ‘Any notarial acts performed before the administration of the oath of office, either the original commissioning or recommissioning, are invalid.’

Training

North Carolina requires a training course.

Six hours of CLASSROOM instruction, taken in a narrow window before applying: ‘Every applicant for an initial notary commission shall, within the three months preceding application, take a course of classroom instruction of not less than six hours approved by the Secretary’ (G.S. 10B-8(a)). ‘The content of the course of instruction and the written examinations shall be notarial laws, procedures, and ethics’ (G.S. 10B-8(c)). Licensed members of the North Carolina State Bar are exempt from the course. Providers: the course is taught by instructors certified by the Secretary under G.S. 10B-14 (an instructor must pass a six-hour instructor certification course, have at least one year of active experience as a notary, hold a current commission, possess the current notary guidebook, and pay a $50 fee; certification lasts two years). The Secretary of State’s Become a Notary page routes applicants to the North Carolina Community Colleges system, N.C. State University, Gaston College, Greensboro College and Guilford College. Electronic notaries take MORE: ‘Before performing electronic or remote electronic notarial acts, a notary shall take a course of instruction of least four hours approved by the Secretary and pass an examination of this course, which shall be in addition to the educational requirements provided in Article 1 of this Chapter’ (G.S. 10B-107(a)). Recommissioning does not require the course unless the commission has lapsed - see renewal_cycle. Course tuition is set by the teaching institution and is not published by the Secretary of State (the Become a Notary page, the Notary division page and G.S. 10B-8 were searched on 2026-08-12).

Exam

North Carolina requires an exam.

Required for both initial commissioning and recommissioning, and administered as part of the Secretary-approved course rather than as a standalone state test. Initial: the applicant must ’take a written examination approved by the Secretary. An applicant must answer at least eighty percent (80%) of the questions correctly in order to pass the exam’ (G.S. 10B-8(a)). Recommissioning: ‘Every applicant for recommissioning shall pass a written examination approved by and administered by or under the direction of the Secretary, unless the person is a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar’ (G.S. 10B-8(b)) - so a renewing North Carolina notary re-tests even when the six-hour course is not repeated. Electronic notaries pass a second examination covering ’notarial laws, procedures, technology, and ethics as pertaining to electronic notarization and remote electronic notarization’ (G.S. 10B-107(b)). Licensed members of the North Carolina State Bar are exempt from both the course and the examinations. Fee: no separate state examination fee is fixed in statute; instead ‘The Secretary may charge such fees as are reasonably necessary to pay the cost associated with developing and administering examinations permitted by this Chapter and for conducting the training of notaries and notary instructors’ (G.S. 10B-8(d)). Question count, retake policy and the exam’s delivery format are not published in G.S. 10B-8, on the Secretary of State’s Notary or Become a Notary pages, or on its Notary Statutes page - all searched 2026-08-12.

Bond & insurance

North Carolina requires NO surety bond and NO errors-and-omissions insurance. The words ‘bond’ and ‘insurance’ appear ZERO times in the entire current text of Article 1 of Chapter 10B - the Notary Public Act, from G.S. 10B-1 through G.S. 10B-66, covering qualifications, application, commissioning, oath, powers, fees, seal, certificates, changes of status and enforcement - a zero-hit search of the full article text read on 2026-08-12. Nor does any bond step appear in the Secretary of State’s Become a Notary page or in its list of qualifications. What North Carolina substitutes for a bond is front-loaded gatekeeping: a six-hour classroom course, an 80%-pass examination, a high school diploma, a purchased manual, and an oath of office recorded by the register of deeds. Tiers searched for this negative: the codified Notary Public Act (Article 1 in full), the Electronic Notary Act (Article 2, including Part 4A on remote electronic notarization), the Secretary of State’s Notary division page, its Become a Notary page, and its Notary Statutes page. The only money that behaves like an assurance in North Carolina sits on the technology vendor, not the notary: a remote notarization PLATFORM must pay a $5,000 licensing fee to the Secretary (G.S. 10B-134.19(b)).

Fees

$50 application fee to the Secretary of State - ‘Every applicant for a notary commission shall pay to the Secretary a nonrefundable application fee of fifty dollars ($50.00)’ (G.S. 10B-13). The same fee applies to recommissioning, which is filed as ‘a new application under G.S. 10B-6’ (G.S. 10B-11(b)(1)). $50 additional to register as an electronic notary - ‘The fee payable to the Secretary for registering or reregistering as an electronic notary is fifty dollars ($50.00), which shall be in addition to the fee required in G.S. 10B-13’ (G.S. 10B-108). Course tuition: paid to the teaching institution (community college or university), amount not set or published by the State. Manual: purchased by the applicant as a condition of qualification; the Secretary of State links the current edition for purchase (‘Order 2026 Manual (includes eNotary)’, UNC School of Government). Seal: bought privately from a vendor - the Secretary of State publishes a ‘Notary Seal Vendors & Manufacturers’ list but does not set a price. Instructor certification, for those who teach the course: ‘a nonrefundable fee of fifty dollars ($50.00)’, renewable every two years for the same $50 (G.S. 10B-14). Platform licensure, for remote-notarization technology providers: ‘a licensing fee of five thousand dollars ($5,000)’ (G.S. 10B-134.19(b)). REGISTER OF DEEDS OATH FEE: no oath or recording fee is stated in G.S. 10B-10 (the oath section), G.S. 10B-13, the Secretary of State’s Become a Notary page, or its Notary division page - all four searched 2026-08-12 - so no county figure is asserted here; the Secretary of State’s own fee tables are rendered by JavaScript and returned no fee rows to any fetch.

How long the commission lasts, and renewing it

‘A person commissioned under this Chapter may perform notarial acts in any part of this State for a term of five years, unless the commission is earlier revoked or resigned’ (G.S. 10B-9). The term runs from the commission, but the commission is INOPERATIVE until the oath is taken: ‘No commissions shall be effective prior to the administration of the oath of office. Any notarial acts performed before the administration of the oath of office, either the original commissioning or recommissioning, are invalid.’ The oath must be taken before the register of deeds ’no later than 45 days after commissioning’ (G.S. 10B-10(b)), and the register of deeds records ’the effective date and expiration date of the commission, the date the oath was administered’ in the official notary record. Recommissioning, with a defined early window and a one-year grace period: ‘A commissioned notary may apply for recommissioning no earlier than 10 weeks prior to the expiration date of the notary’s commission’ (G.S. 10B-11(a)). A notary whose commission has not expired must ‘(1) Submit a new application under G.S. 10B-6. (2) Meet the requirements of G.S. 10B-5(b). (3) Pass the written examination required under G.S. 10B-8, unless the notary is a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar’ - so the exam repeats every cycle even though the six-hour course does not. ‘An individual may apply for recommissioning within one year after the expiration of the individual’s commission. The individual must comply with the requirement of subsection (b) of this section. The individual must also fulfill the educational requirement under G.S. 10B-8(a), unless the Secretary waives that requirement’ (G.S. 10B-11(c)) - i.e. a lapsed applicant retakes the six-hour course unless the Secretary waives it, and past one year there is no recommissioning route at all. Each recommissioning is followed by a fresh oath at the register of deeds, and acts performed before that oath ’either the original commissioning or recommissioning, are invalid.’ Electronic notary registration renews alongside the commission: ‘A notary may renew an electronic notary registration at the same time that the notary appli[es]’ for recommissioning, and the registration term ‘shall coincide with the term of the notary’s commission.’ North Carolina publishes no continuing-education hour requirement for notaries. What recurs instead is the EXAMINATION: ‘Every applicant for recommissioning shall pass a written examination approved by and administered by or under the direction of the Secretary, unless the person is a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar’ (G.S. 10B-8(b)) - so every five years a North Carolina notary re-tests, and a notary who lets the commission lapse must also retake the six-hour course unless the Secretary waives it (G.S. 10B-11(c)). The purchase-and-keep-the-current-manual duty in G.S. 10B-5(b)(7) also recurs at each commissioning, since the requirement is for ’the most recent manual approved by the Secretary.’ No CE hour count, CE cycle, or approved-CE-provider scheme appears in G.S. 10B-8, G.S. 10B-11, G.S. 10B-107, the Secretary of State’s Notary division page, or its Become a Notary page - all five searched 2026-08-12.

Your seal or stamp

A seal or stamp is mandatory and personal to the notary: ‘A notary shall keep an official seal or stamp that is the exclusive property of the notary. The notary shall keep the seal in a secure location. A notary shall not allow another person to use or possess the seal, and shall not surrender the seal to the notary’s employer upon termination of employment’ (G.S. 10B-36(a)). Placement: ‘The seal shall be affixed only after the notarial act is performed. The notary shall place the image or impression of the seal near the notary’s signature on every paper record notarized. The seal and the notary’s signature shall appear on the same page of a record as the text of the notarial certificate’ (G.S. 10B-36(b)). Either an inked stamp or an embosser is contemplated - the statute speaks of ’the image or impression of the seal’ - and G.S. 10B-37 governs the seal image separately. Loss or theft: ‘A notary shall do the following within 10 days of discovering that the notary’s seal has been lost or stolen: (1) Inform the appropriate law enforcement agency in the case of theft or vandalism. (2) Notify the appropriate register of deeds and the Secre[tary]’ in writing, signed in the official name in which the notary was commissioned. End of commission: the Secretary of State’s hosted compilation of G.S. 10B-36(d) provides that ‘As soon as is reasonably practicable after resignation, revocation, or expiration of a notary commission, or death of the notary, the seal shall be delivered to the Secretary for disposal’ (see also G.S. 10B-55, ‘Disposition of seal; death of notary’). Required seal ELEMENTS (name, county, the words ‘Notary Public’, expiration date) are set by G.S. 10B-37 and by rule; the specific element list was not readable in the sources fetched on 2026-08-12 and is therefore not enumerated here rather than guessed - a verifier should read G.S. 10B-37 and 18 NCAC 07B directly. The Secretary of State publishes a ‘Notary Seal Vendors & Manufacturers’ list on its Notary division page.

Keeping a journal

North Carolina requires a journal for some notarial acts.

North Carolina does NOT impose a general journal duty on ordinary paper notarizations, but it does require a journal for the technology-mediated ones. (a) EMERGENCY VIDEO NOTARIZATION - mandatory: ‘A notary who performs an emergency video notarization shall record information about the notarization in a notary journal that is the exclusive property of the notary. The journal shall be retained by the notary for at least 10 years and may be maintained in electronic form. The notary shall keep the journal in a secure location and shall not allow another person to make entries in the journal. A notary may surrender the journal to the notary’s employer upon termination of employment, but the notary shall also keep and maintain an accurate copy of the journal’ (G.S. 10B-25(i)). The entries prescribed for each EVN include the time, the identification presented ‘including, if applicable, the issuing agency and identification number’, ‘The type of video conference technology used’, ‘A statement that the notary and each principal could see and hear each other’, and ‘Whether any other person was present with the principal at the time of signature and if so, the name of that person.’ A third party to the transaction ‘may require additional information to be included in the journal’. (b) REMOTE ELECTRONIC NOTARIZATION - an ‘Electronic journal’ is defined as ‘A secure record of remote electronic notarial acts that contains the information required under G.S. 10B-134.15’, and Part 4A builds custodial and depository services around it (‘Storage services provided by the platform of the electronic journal entries and communications technology recordings as they are entered’). (c) ELECTRONIC NOTARIZATION generally - the older Article 2 provision is permissive: ‘The Secretary may require an electronic notary to create and to maintain a record, journal, or entry of each electronic notarial act.’ (d) PAPER NOTARIZATIONS - no journal mandate appears anywhere in Article 1 outside the emergency-video section; the word ‘journal’ appears in Article 1 only in G.S. 10B-25 (EVN) and in G.S. 10B-60’s confidentiality rule that ‘Any journal entries or communication technology recordings … created by a notary in the course of performing a notarial act are not public records under G.S. 132-1.’ The Secretary of State nonetheless describes journaling as standard practice on its Notary landing page: ‘The primary tools notaries use are requiring personal appearance, positively identifying signers and recording evidence of the notarization in a journal of notary acts.’ Tiers searched for this negative: the full current text of Article 1, the full text of Article 2 including Part 4A, and the Secretary of State’s Notary division and Become a Notary pages, all on 2026-08-12.

Online (remote) notarization

North Carolina does not authorize remote online notarization.

AUTHORIZED IN LAW BUT NOT YET OPERATIONAL - this is the single fact most likely to be wrong on any third-party page about North Carolina. The Remote Electronic Notarization Act (RENA) ‘became law on July 8, 2022’ (NC Secretary of State, Notary division page), enacted as S.L. 2022-54, and its provisions sit in Part 4A of Article 2 of Chapter 10B, headed ‘(Effective July 1, 2024) Remote Electronic Notarization.’ Mechanics: a notary registers the capability with the Secretary - ‘A notary shall register the capability to notarize electronically or remotely with the Secretary in accordance with rules adopted by the Secretary before performing notarial acts pursuant to this Article’, and ‘Registration as an electronic notary shall include authorization to perform remote electronic notarial acts if the electronic notary complies with all requirements of this Article and the rules related to remote electronic notarial acts’ (G.S. 10B-106). The notary must complete the additional four-hour course and examination (G.S. 10B-107) and pay the $50 electronic-notary registration fee (G.S. 10B-108). THE GATE IS THE PLATFORM: ‘An electronic notary shall use only a communication technology through a platform licensed by the Secretary. The Secretary shall review and issue platform licenses to qualified applicants. The applicant shall complete and submit an application on a form prescribed by the Secretary and pay a licensing fee of five thousand dollars ($5,000)’, with a background investigation of the applicant and its key people (G.S. 10B-134.19). No platform licence had been issued as of 2026-08-12: the Secretary of State’s site-wide notice, read live that day, states ‘Following Gov. Stein’s signing of HB 517 on July 7, Emergency Video Notarizations (EVNs) have been extended to 12:01 AM on July 1, 2027 or until the first license is issued for Remote Electronic Notarizations’ - and G.S. 10B-25(n) makes the EVN section ’expire upon the earlier of (i) 12:01 A.M. July 1, 2026, or (ii) the date the Secretary issues the first license in accordance with G.S. 10B-134.19’, a date the extension has now moved to July 1, 2027. In other words the emergency bridge is still standing precisely because remote electronic notarization has not started. Scope limits when it does start: an electronic notary ‘shall not perform any remote electronic notarial act’ as to a self-proved will under Article 4A of Chapter 31, or a revocable or irrevocable trust or amendment (except a certification of trust), and a remote act may not be ‘a verification or proof’ (G.S. 10B-134.3). Fee when performed: ‘$25.00 per notarized principal signature’ (G.S. 10B-31(4)). The Secretary of State maintains an open rulemaking docket for RENA and publishes a ‘Technology Providers’ page and a RENA definitions compilation (v.7.8.2025).

What you may charge

G.S. 10B-31, current text: ‘The maximum fees that may be charged by a notary for notarial acts are as follows: (1) For acknowledgments, jurats, verifications or proofs, ten dollars ($10.00) per notarized principal signature. (2) For oaths or affirmations without a signature, ten dollars ($10.00) per person, except for an oath or affirmation administered to a credible witness to vouch for the identity of a principal or subscribing witness. (3) For an electronic acknowledgement or, jurats, fifteen dollars ($15.00) per electronically notarized principal signature. (3a) For an electronic oath or affirmation without a signature, fifteen dollars ($15.00) per person, except for an oath or affirmation administered to a credible witness … (4) For remote notarization under Part 4A of Article 2 of this Chapter, twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per notarized principal signature. (5) For any notarial act under this Chapter, actual mileage at the federal business mileage rate if the travel reimbursement is agreed to by the principal in writing prior to the travel.’ So the cap is tiered by MODE - $10 paper, $15 electronic, $25 remote - and the travel charge is not a free-form ’travel fee’ but reimbursement at the federal business mileage rate, agreed in writing BEFORE the travel. Disclosure duty: ‘Notaries who charge for their notarial services shall conspicuously display in their places of business, or present to each principal outside their places of business, an English-language schedule of fees for notarial acts. No part of any notarial fee schedule shall be printed in smaller than 10-point type’ (G.S. 10B-32). CAUTION FOR ANY VERIFIER: the Chapter 10B compilation that the Secretary of State hosts on its own website still prints the superseded $5.00 figures for G.S. 10B-31 and has no electronic or remote tiers at all; the amounts above are from the General Assembly’s codified text, whose history for this section runs through 2023-57, s. 5.5(a).

Who does NOT need a commission — exemptions

NOTARIES EX OFFICIO, under G.S. 10B-21: ‘The clerks of the superior court may act as notaries public in their several counties by virtue of their offices as clerks and may certify their notarial acts only under the seals of their respective courts. Assistant and deputy clerks of superior court, by virtue of their offices, may perform the following notarial acts and may certify these notarial acts only under the seals of their respective courts: (1) Oaths and affirmations. (2) Verifications or proofs.’ Assistant and deputy clerks gain the full range ‘Upon completion of the course of study provided for in G.S. 10B-5(b)’. ‘Registers of deeds may act as notaries public in their several counties by virtue of their offices as registers of deeds and may certify their notarial acts only under the seals of their respective offices’, with assistant and deputy registers of deeds similarly limited until they complete the course. Note the jurisdictional narrowing: ex officio authority is county-bound and must be certified under the office’s seal, unlike a commissioned notary’s statewide authority. COURSE AND EXAM EXEMPTION: ‘a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar’ is excused from the six-hour course (G.S. 10B-5(b)(6), G.S. 10B-8(a)) and from both examinations (G.S. 10B-8(a), (b)) - but not from the application, the fee, the oath or the seal. Military notarial powers under 10 U.S.C. 1044a are not addressed anywhere in Chapter 10B Article 1 or Article 2, or on the Secretary of State’s notary pages - all searched 2026-08-12, so this record makes no claim about them. Acts that require no notary at all are likewise not enumerated in those tiers.

How to apply

Applications are handled by North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State (Elaine F. Marshall), Notary Public Section. The commission is issued by the Secretary, but the notary is sworn in and the official record of qualification is kept by the REGISTER OF DEEDS of the notary’s county.. Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in North Carolina

North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State publishes a public license search , searchable by Address, Zip code, Search near me (geolocation), Miles from current location (25-225 or Any), County served (all 100 counties, plus ‘Out of state’ and ‘Out of Country’), Language spoken (long list including Arabic, Cantonese, French, Hindi, Korean, Spanish and others) or eNotary filter. It covers A public ‘Find a Notary Near You’ directory of commissioned North Carolina notaries, filterable by proximity, county served, language spoken and eNotary capability. The Secretary of State’s notary page separately offers ‘Browse Notary’ and ‘Confirm Notary Status’ functions, plus a ‘Register of Deeds Access’ portal for county officials. The results themselves are returned by a JavaScript search - the page’s filter options are visible in the HTML, but result records are not addressable by URL.

Records come from North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State’s own system. LicensingAtlas does not hold license records and cannot confirm any individual’s status — the date on this page refers to the requirements described above, not to anyone’s credential.

Frequently asked questions

Does North Carolina require a bond to become a notary?

No. The words ‘bond’ and ‘insurance’ do not appear anywhere in Article 1 of Chapter 10B, the Notary Public Act, and no bond step appears on the Secretary of State’s Become a Notary page. North Carolina front-loads gatekeeping instead: a six-hour classroom course, an 80%-pass exam, a high school diploma, a purchased manual, and an oath of office recorded by your county’s register of deeds.

What are the qualifications?

G.S. 10B-5(b) requires you to ‘Be at least 18 years of age or legally emancipated’, ‘Reside or have a regular place of work or business in this State’, ‘Reside legally in the United States’, ‘Speak, read, and write the English language’, ‘Possess a high school diploma or equivalent’, pass the course of instruction unless you are a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar, purchase and keep the most recent Secretary-approved manual, and submit an application with no significant misstatement or omission.

How long is the course and how hard is the exam?

Six hours of classroom instruction, taken ‘within the three months preceding application’, followed by a written examination on which you ‘must answer at least eighty percent (80%) of the questions correctly in order to pass’. The Secretary of State points applicants to the North Carolina Community Colleges system, N.C. State University, Gaston College, Greensboro College and Guilford College. Licensed North Carolina attorneys are exempt from both.

What does a North Carolina notary commission cost?

The state application fee is ‘a nonrefundable application fee of fifty dollars ($50.00)’ under G.S. 10B-13, and the same fee applies when you recommission. Registering as an electronic notary costs another $50 on top. You also pay the teaching institution for the course, buy the required manual, and buy your own seal.

Do I have to be sworn in?

Yes, and until you are, your commission does nothing. ‘The appointee shall appear before the register of deeds no later than 45 days after commissioning and shall be duly qualified by taking the general oath of office prescribed in G.S. 11-11 and the oath prescribed for officers in G.S. 11-7.’ The statute adds that ‘Any notarial acts performed before the administration of the oath of office, either the original commissioning or recommissioning, are invalid.’

How long does the commission last, and what happens if it lapses?

Five years. You may apply to recommission ’no earlier than 10 weeks prior to the expiration date’, and you must pass the written examination again. If it has already expired you have one year to apply, and in that case you must also retake the six-hour course ‘unless the Secretary waives that requirement’. After a year there is no recommissioning route.

Can North Carolina notaries do remote online notarizations yet?

Not yet in practice, even though the law exists. The Remote Electronic Notarization Act became law on July 8, 2022 and Part 4A of Article 2 is headed ‘Effective July 1, 2024’, but a remote notarization must run on a platform licensed by the Secretary of State (‘An electronic notary shall use only a communication technology through a platform licensed by the Secretary’, $5,000 licensing fee). The Secretary of State’s live notice reports that emergency video notarizations have been extended ’to 12:01 AM on July 1, 2027 or until the first license is issued for Remote Electronic Notarizations’ - the bridge is still standing because no platform licence has been issued.

How much can a North Carolina notary charge?

Under G.S. 10B-31 the maximums are $10.00 per notarized principal signature for acknowledgments, jurats, verifications or proofs; $10.00 per person for oaths or affirmations without a signature; $15.00 per signature for electronic acknowledgments and jurats; and $25.00 per notarized principal signature for remote notarization under Part 4A. Travel is not a free-form fee - it is ‘actual mileage at the federal business mileage rate if the travel reimbursement is agreed to by the principal in writing prior to the travel.’ If you charge, you must display an English-language fee schedule in type no smaller than 10-point.

Does a North Carolina notary have to keep a journal?

Only for certain acts. There is no general journal mandate for ordinary paper notarizations anywhere in Article 1. But a notary performing an emergency video notarization ‘shall record information about the notarization in a notary journal that is the exclusive property of the notary’, retained ‘for at least 10 years’, and remote electronic notarization is built around a defined ‘Electronic journal’. The Secretary of State still describes journaling as one of a notary’s ‘primary tools’.

Who can notarize in North Carolina without a commission?

Clerks of superior court and registers of deeds may act as notaries in their own counties by virtue of office, certifying under their official seals. Their assistants and deputies may administer oaths and affirmations and take verifications or proofs immediately, and gain the full range of notarial acts ‘Upon completion of the course of study provided for in G.S. 10B-5(b).’ That ex officio authority is county-bound, unlike a commissioned notary’s statewide authority.

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in North Carolina.

Sources & verification

Last verified against these sources: August 12, 2026.

We re-fetch every cited source on a weekly schedule: see what changed at the agencies, or every correction we have ever made.

LicensingAtlas states licensing and certification requirements categorically from official sources. It is a reference, not legal or career advice, and requirements change frequently — confirm details with the issuing board before you act.