How to Become a Notary in New Hampshire — Requirements & Fees

Q: How long does a New Hampshire notary commission last?

Five years -- the longest term in this batch. RSA 455:1: 'Notaries public shall be appointed by the governor, with advice and consent of the executive council, and shall be commissioned for 5 years.' The Secretary of State ties the start date to the appointment: 'your commission as a Notary Public will be valid for 5 years from the date the Governor and Executive Council confirm your appointment.'

How to become a notary public in New Hampshire: remote online notarization — verified from New Hampshire Department of State.

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from New Hampshire Department of State, Office of the Secretary of State (commissions are issued by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Executive Council) (official site) and last verified August 12, 2026. Boards change fees and rules often — confirm before acting.

Requirements at a glance

Per the Secretary of State's Notary Public page and RSA 455:1-:2 and RSA 5:10: (1) meet the eligibility conditions; (2) print and complete both sides of the Notary Public Application, or request one from the Secretary of State by phone or email -- 'The back of the application includes an Acknowledgement of Criminal Record Check which must be completed'; (3) OBTAIN THREE ENDORSEMENTS -- RSA 455:2: 'The applicant shall be endorsed for appointment by 2 notaries public and a registered voter of this state,' which the SOS states as 'Two notaries public and one registered New Hampshire voter must endorse your application'; (4) sign a written statement under oath as to any unannulled criminal conviction other than minor traffic violations (RSA 455:2); (5) MAIL the original application with the $75 fee -- 'Please mail the ORIGINAL completed application along with the $75 fee (check made payable to "State of New Hampshire" or cash) to the Secretary of State's Office, Room 204, 107 North main Street, Concord, NH 03301'; (6) wait out the appointment process -- 'Once the Secretary of State receives your application, it will take 8-10 weeks to be processed': the SOS checks the N.H. State Police database using the Acknowledgement of Criminal Record Check, then submits the application to the Governor and Executive Council for NOMINATION, then at a LATER meeting for APPOINTMENT; (7) TAKE THE OATH AFTER APPOINTMENT -- the commission, oath and manual arrive within a week, and the appointee must sign and take the oath of office 'in the presence of: Two justices of the peace; OR Two notaries public; OR One notary public and one justice of the peace,' then return the oath to the SOS: 'You must take the oath to have the authority to act as a Notary Public (RSA 92:2)... Unless we have your oath on file, we cannot certify that you are qualified as a Notary Public'; (8) buy a seal or stamp -- 'The Secretary of State's Office does not provide stamps or seals. You are responsible for ordering one.' NO BOND, NO EXAM AND NO COURSE is part of this sequence; see those fields for the sourced negatives. ABUTTING-STATE APPLICANTS additionally file the Affidavit of Employment and use the separate Notary Public Application for Maine, Massachusetts, or Vermont residents; RSA 455:2 requires 'an affidavit stating that the individual (i) is a resident of an abutting state, (ii) is a registered notary in such state, and (iii) is regularly employed or carries on a trade, business, or practice in New Hampshire.'

Legal basis

New Hampshire Department of State, Office of the Secretary of State (commissions are issued by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Executive Council) commissions notaries public in New Hampshire. 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 what New Hampshire issues is a COMMISSION – RSA 455:1 says notaries ‘shall be commissioned for 5 years,’ and RSA 5:10 prices ’every commission issued to a justice of the peace or to a notary public.’ ‘New Hampshire notary license’ is a folk term the state does not use. Statute also uses ’notarial officer’ (RSA 456-B), which is broader than notary public: it takes in judges, marital masters, court clerks and deputy clerks, registers and deputy registers of probate, and justices of the peace (RSA 456-B:3(I)). Two New Hampshire-specific naming traps: (1) a JUSTICE OF THE PEACE is a distinct commissioned office, not a synonym for notary – New Hampshire commissions both, charges the same $75 for either (RSA 5:10), and covers them in one manual (RSA 455:17); a New Hampshire notary has ’the same powers as a justice of the peace in relation to depositions and the acknowledgment of deeds and other instruments and the administering of oaths’ (RSA 455:3(I)) but is not one. (2) a COMMISSIONER OF DEEDS is a third office, appointed for 5 years in another state or country to take acknowledgments for use in New Hampshire (RSA 455:12 to 455:15). NEW HAMPSHIRE ISSUES NO COMMISSION NUMBERS – the Secretary of State states: ‘Please be advised that New Hampshire does not have commission numbers. If you are asked for a commission number, please write N/A (not applicable).’ ‘Notary signing agent’ and ’loan signing agent’ are private vendor credentials New Hampshire does not issue; no New Hampshire source read on 2026-08-12 addresses them.

Types of notary commission

Notary public commission — New Hampshire residents, and residents of Maine, Massachusetts or Vermont who work in New Hampshire and are already notaries at home RSA 455:1: ‘Notaries public shall be appointed by the governor, with advice and consent of the executive council, and shall be commissioned for 5 years.’ There is only one class of notary commission; the electronic and remote authorities below are notifications added to it, not separate commissions.
Authority to notarize electronic records (notification, not a separate commission) — A commissioned New Hampshire notary who wants to notarize electronic records RSA 456-B:8-b(II): ‘Before a notary public performs the notary public’s initial notarial act with respect to an electronic record, a notary public shall notify the secretary of state that the notary public will be performing notarial acts with respect to electronic records and identify the technology the notary public intends to use.’ The notary picks the tamper-evident technology (456-B:8-b(I)) and no one may require use of a technology the notary has not selected.
Authority to notarize for a remotely located individual (notification, not a separate commission) — A commissioned New Hampshire notary who wants to notarize for a signer appearing by live two-way audio-video RSA 456-B:6-a(VII): ‘Before a notary public performs the notary public’s initial notarial act under this section, the notary public must notify the secretary of state that the notary public will be performing notarial acts with respect to remotely located individuals and identify the technologies the notary public intends to use.’ This notification is distinct from the electronic-record notification above, and it carries a journal duty and a 10-year recording-retention duty that ordinary paper notarizations do not.
Justice of the peace (a separate New Hampshire office, frequently confused with notary) — Not covered by this record – named here only because New Hampshire commissions both and treats them together RSA 456-B:3(I) lists a justice of the peace as a person who may perform a notarial act in New Hampshire, separately from a notary public, and RSA 455:17 requires a single manual covering ’notaries public and justices of the peace.’ RSA 5:10 charges the same $75 for either commission. This record documents the NOTARY commission only.

Who can be commissioned

RSA 455:2: ‘Any person applying to be a notary public shall be a resident of this state or be a resident of an abutting state who is regularly employed or carries on a trade, business, or practice in this state at the time of applying. The applicant shall sign a written statement under oath as to whether the applicant has ever been convicted of a crime that has not been annulled by a court, other than minor traffic violations. The applicant shall be endorsed for appointment by 2 notaries public and a registered voter of this state.’ The abutting-state route, effective August 4, 2019 (RSA 455:2, ‘Source… 2019, 47:1, eff. Aug. 4, 2019’), additionally requires the RSA 5:10 fee and an affidavit of abutting-state residence, home-state notary registration, and New Hampshire employment or trade. The Secretary of State names the qualifying states – ‘A resident of Maine, Massachusetts or Vermont’ – and adds a requirement not stated in RSA 455:2: ‘At least 18 years of age.’ A CONFLICT RECORDED BOTH WAYS: no minimum age appears in RSA 455:1, RSA 455:2 or RSA 455:2-a as read on 2026-08-12; the age-18 requirement is stated only by the Secretary of State. CRIMINAL HISTORY is disclosed under oath and checked against the N.H. State Police database via the Acknowledgement of Criminal Record Check on the back of the application; neither RSA 455 nor the Secretary of State’s page states a categorical bar for any particular conviction, so this record asserts none. RSA 455:2-a governs COMPETENCY rather than eligibility: it permits a notary who is a stockholder, director, officer or employee of a bank or other corporation to take acknowledgments for that corporation, but makes it ‘unlawful’ to do so ‘where such notary or other officer is a party to such instrument, either individually or as a representative of such corporation,’ and states flatly: ‘No person acting in the capacity of notary public shall notarize his or her own signature.’ No citizenship, legal-presence or language qualification appears in RSA 455:1-:2 or on the Secretary of State’s page.

Requirements

Per the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page and RSA 455:1-:2 and RSA 5:10: (1) meet the eligibility conditions; (2) print and complete both sides of the Notary Public Application, or request one from the Secretary of State by phone or email – ‘The back of the application includes an Acknowledgement of Criminal Record Check which must be completed’; (3) OBTAIN THREE ENDORSEMENTS – RSA 455:2: ‘The applicant shall be endorsed for appointment by 2 notaries public and a registered voter of this state,’ which the SOS states as ‘Two notaries public and one registered New Hampshire voter must endorse your application’; (4) sign a written statement under oath as to any unannulled criminal conviction other than minor traffic violations (RSA 455:2); (5) MAIL the original application with the $75 fee – ‘Please mail the ORIGINAL completed application along with the $75 fee (check made payable to “State of New Hampshire” or cash) to the Secretary of State’s Office, Room 204, 107 North main Street, Concord, NH 03301’; (6) wait out the appointment process – ‘Once the Secretary of State receives your application, it will take 8-10 weeks to be processed’: the SOS checks the N.H. State Police database using the Acknowledgement of Criminal Record Check, then submits the application to the Governor and Executive Council for NOMINATION, then at a LATER meeting for APPOINTMENT; (7) TAKE THE OATH AFTER APPOINTMENT – the commission, oath and manual arrive within a week, and the appointee must sign and take the oath of office ‘in the presence of: Two justices of the peace; OR Two notaries public; OR One notary public and one justice of the peace,’ then return the oath to the SOS: ‘You must take the oath to have the authority to act as a Notary Public (RSA 92:2)… Unless we have your oath on file, we cannot certify that you are qualified as a Notary Public’; (8) buy a seal or stamp – ‘The Secretary of State’s Office does not provide stamps or seals. You are responsible for ordering one.’ NO BOND, NO EXAM AND NO COURSE is part of this sequence; see those fields for the sourced negatives. ABUTTING-STATE APPLICANTS additionally file the Affidavit of Employment and use the separate Notary Public Application for Maine, Massachusetts, or Vermont residents; RSA 455:2 requires ‘an affidavit stating that the individual (i) is a resident of an abutting state, (ii) is a registered notary in such state, and (iii) is regularly employed or carries on a trade, business, or practice in New Hampshire.’

Training

New Hampshire does not require a training course.

New Hampshire requires no course of study to be commissioned. RSA 455:1 conditions the commission only on appointment by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Executive Council; RSA 455:2 lists residency, the sworn conviction statement and the three endorsements, and nothing else. The Secretary of State’s application instructions run application -> criminal record check -> nomination -> appointment -> oath -> seal, with no education step. What the state provides instead is a MANUAL: RSA 455:17(I) directs that ‘The secretary of state, with the advice and approval of the attorney general, shall prepare or cause to be prepared an up-to-date manual on the privileges, duties, and responsibilities of notaries public and justices of the peace in New Hampshire. The manual shall be written in non-technical language. The manual shall be distributed to each person commissioned a notary public, commissioner of deeds pursuant to RSA 455:12, and justice of the peace. The manual shall be available to the public free of charge. The manual shall be updated within 6 months following the end of any session of the legislature that amends the statutes affecting the privileges, duties, or responsibilities of notaries public, commissioners, or justices of the peace.’ RSA 455:17(II) funds the manual and ‘other education of notaries public/justices of the peace’ from the RSA 5:10-b share of commission fees. The Secretary of State delivers the manual with the commission (‘you will receive your commission, oath, Notary Public and Justice of the Peace Manual, and other information’). Tiers searched for a training requirement: RSA ch. 455 in full (455:1 through 455:17), RSA 456-B in full (the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, including 456-B:6-a and 456-B:8-a through 456-B:8-e), RSA 5:10, and the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page, on 2026-08-12.

Exam

New Hampshire does not require an exam.

New Hampshire administers no notary examination. No examination is mentioned in RSA 455:1, 455:2, 455:2-a or 455:17, in RSA 456-B (including the remote-notarization section 456-B:6-a and the electronic-record notification section 456-B:8-b), in RSA 5:10, or anywhere in the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page, which sets out the complete application sequence – application with endorsements, criminal record check, Governor and Executive Council nomination and appointment, oath, seal – without any test. The nearest thing to a competence screen is the human one written into RSA 455:2: the applicant must be ’endorsed for appointment by 2 notaries public and a registered voter of this state.’ Tiers searched, all on 2026-08-12: statute (RSA ch. 455 and RSA ch. 456-B in full, plus RSA 5:10), the Secretary of State’s notary instructions, and the renewal instructions on the same page. Not searched: the New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules – but RSA 455 delegates no rulemaking over notary qualification to the Secretary of State, and RSA 456-B’s rulemaking grants (456-B:6-a(VIII), 456-B:8-b(III)) reach only the performance of electronic and remote notarial acts, not admission to the office.

Bond & insurance

New Hampshire requires NO surety bond and NO errors & omissions insurance of a notary public. Neither word appears in RSA 455:1, 455:2, 455:2-a, 455:3, 455:11, 455:16 or 455:17, nor anywhere in the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page, which itemises the cost of becoming a notary as the $75 fee plus a self-purchased seal or stamp. The contrast inside New Hampshire’s own chapter is instructive: RSA 455:13 imposes a formal oath-filing duty on COMMISSIONERS OF DEEDS (‘Before any commissioner of deeds shall perform any duty of his or her office, he or she shall take and subscribe an oath, before a judge of some court of record… which oath shall be filed by him or her in the office of the secretary of state within 3 months’), so the legislature plainly knew how to attach a pre-service financial or filing condition and did not attach a bond to the notary commission. What New Hampshire uses instead of a bond is a civil-penalty and misdemeanour regime: RSA 455:16(I) makes a person liable for ‘a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000’ for negligently or recklessly making a false notarial act, notarizing for a person not personally known without establishing identity, or falsely purporting to have witnessed a signature or received an oath; RSA 455:16(II) makes the same conduct a class A misdemeanour when done purposefully or knowingly; and RSA 455:16(III) lets the Attorney General petition for the penalty or settle without court action. Tiers searched for a bond or insurance requirement: RSA ch. 455 in full, RSA ch. 456-B in full, RSA 5:10, and the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page, on 2026-08-12.

Fees

ONE STATE FEE: $75 for the commission. RSA 5:10: ’the following fees shall be paid to the secretary of state for the use of the state: For every commission issued to a justice of the peace or to a notary public, $75, $25 of which shall be deposited into the fund established by RSA 5:10-b.’ The Secretary of State charges the same amount and takes it only on paper: ‘Please mail the ORIGINAL completed application along with the $75 fee (check made payable to “State of New Hampshire” or cash).’ Code and agency reconcile exactly. RENEWAL costs the same $75, because RSA 5:10 prices ’every commission issued’ and the Secretary of State says renewal follows ’the same process you completed to apply.’ RELATED SECRETARY OF STATE FEES in the same section: ‘for every apostille provided under the Hague Convention of 1961 and for every certificate for a notary public or justice of the peace, $10’; ‘for expedited service of every 10 documents or any part thereof, $25.’ NOT STATE FEES: the seal or rubber stamp – ‘The Secretary of State’s Office does not provide stamps or seals. You are responsible for ordering one’ – and nothing else, because there is no bond, no course, no examination and no separate registration fee for electronic or remote authority (the RSA 456-B:6-a(VII) and 456-B:8-b(II) notifications carry no fee in the statute, and none is stated by the Secretary of State). NO COUNTY STEP: the commission issues from the Governor and Executive Council through the Secretary of State; nothing is filed with a county.

How long the commission lasts, and renewing it

5 years, running from the date the Governor and Executive Council confirm the appointment. RSA 455:1: ‘Notaries public shall be appointed by the governor, with advice and consent of the executive council, and shall be commissioned for 5 years.’ The Secretary of State pins the start date to the appointment, not to the oath: ‘If your application is approved (you are appointed), your commission as a Notary Public will be valid for 5 years from the date the Governor and Executive Council confirm your appointment. The date of your appointment will be indicated on your commission.’ The oath is nonetheless a condition of ACTING: ‘You must take the oath to have the authority to act as a Notary Public (RSA 92:2)… Unless we have your oath on file, we cannot certify that you are qualified as a Notary Public.’ So in New Hampshire the term clock and the authority to act start on different events – appointment starts the 5 years; the returned oath unlocks the authority. Commissioners of deeds, a separate office, are likewise appointed for 5 years (RSA 455:12). Renewal repeats the original application in full, and the Secretary of State initiates it by mail. Per the Secretary of State: ‘To renew your Notary Public commission, you will follow the same process you completed to apply. The Secretary of State’s Office will mail you a renewal application approximately 12 weeks prior to the date your current commission is due to expire. Renewal applications are not available online.’ Because the process is the same, a renewing notary again needs the two-notary-plus-one-registered-voter endorsement (RSA 455:2), the sworn conviction statement, the criminal record check acknowledgement, the $75 fee (RSA 5:10), Governor and Executive Council nomination and appointment, and a fresh oath. There is no examination, course or continuing education on renewal. ADDRESS AND NAME CHANGES MATTER OPERATIONALLY: ‘If you move during the 5 years of your commission (or change your name), please notify the Secretary of State’s Office. Otherwise, your renewal form will not reach you’ – because the renewal packet is mailed rather than published. A new stamp is needed each term since the rubber stamp carries the commission expiration date (RSA 455:3(II)). None. New Hampshire requires no continuing education of notaries public. RSA 455:1, 455:2 and RSA 5:10 condition the commission and its renewal on appointment, endorsements, the sworn conviction statement and the $75 fee; the Secretary of State describes renewal as following ’the same process you completed to apply,’ which contains no educational component. The only education obligation in the chapter runs the other way – RSA 455:17 obliges the SECRETARY OF STATE, with the Attorney General’s advice and approval, to prepare, update and distribute the Notary Public and Justice of the Peace Manual free of charge and to spend RSA 5:10-b funds on ’the preparation, printing, and distribution of a notary public/justice of the peace manual, other education of notaries public/justices of the peace, or both.’ Tiers searched: RSA ch. 455 in full, RSA ch. 456-B in full, RSA 5:10, and the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page including its renewal section, on 2026-08-12.

Your seal or stamp

Every notarial act on a record must bear either an EMBOSSED SEAL or a stamp imprint. RSA 455:3(II): ‘All notarial acts performed by a notary public with respect to a record shall be either under an embossed official seal or shall carry the legible imprint of an electronic or rubber official stamp stating the name of the notary, the words “notary public, New Hampshire” and the expiration date of the notary public’s commission.’ RSA 456-B:3(III) repeats the same elements when treating the signature and stamp as prima facie evidence of authority. The Secretary of State splits the content requirements by device: ‘The official seal shall have the following information printed on it: Name of the Notary; The words “Notary Public”; The words “New Hampshire”. A separate rubber stamp should carry the expiration date of the notary public’s commission. The official rubber stamp shall have the following information printed on it: Name of the Notary; The words “Notary Public”; The words “New Hampshire”; The expiration date of the notary public’s commission.’ It also states that the state does not supply the device: ‘The Secretary of State’s Office does not provide stamps or seals. You are responsible for ordering one,’ and adds a belt-and-braces rule about the expiration date: ‘Any time you endorse a document or sign an acknowledgement as a Notary Public, you must type, print, or stamp your name and state the expiration of your commission on the document.’ The certificate rules in RSA 456-B:7(I) treat the stamp as optional on the certificate itself while making the expiration date mandatory: the certificate ‘may include the official stamp or seal of office. If the officer is a notary public, the certificate must also indicate the date of expiration, if any, of the commission of office, but omission of that information may subsequently be corrected.’ ELECTRONIC STAMPS AND DEVICE SECURITY – RSA 456-B:8-a: the electronic or rubber official stamp must include the RSA 455:3 information and ‘Be capable of being copied together with the record to which it is affixed or attached or with which it is logically associated’; the notary ‘is responsible for the security of the notary public’s stamping device and may not allow another individual to use the device’; on resignation, revocation or expiration the notary ‘shall disable the stamping device by destroying, defacing, damaging, erasing, or securing it against use in a manner that renders it unusable,’ with the same duty falling on a personal representative or guardian on death or incompetency; and a lost or stolen device must be reported promptly to the Secretary of State. RSA 456-B:8-b(IV) supplies a default for electronic records: absent a Secretary of State rule, the stamp is attached or logically associated ‘by use of a digital certificate complying with the X.509 standard adopted by the International Telecommunication Union or a similar industry-standard technology.’ NOTE THE SECRETARY OF STATE’S SOFTER PHRASING: its ‘Rules and limitations’ section says ‘Although not required, we recommend that when performing an act as a Notary Public, you do so under your official seal’ – which reads against RSA 455:3(II)’s ‘shall’; the reconciliation is that RSA 455:3(II) accepts EITHER an embossed seal OR a stamp imprint, so the embosser specifically is optional while some device is mandatory.

Keeping a journal

New Hampshire requires a journal for some notarial acts.

A journal is required ONLY for notarial acts performed for a remotely located individual – and this is the New Hampshire fact most likely to be stated wrongly. RSA 456-B:8-c(I): ‘A notary public shall maintain a journal in which the notary public chronicles all notarial acts the notary public performs with respect to a remotely located individual under RSA 456-B:6-a. The notary public shall retain the journal for 10 years after the performance of the last notarial act chronicled in the journal.’ FORM – 456-B:8-c(II): tangible or electronic; ‘A notary public shall maintain only one journal at a time to chronicle all notarial acts performed regarding tangible records and one or more journals to chronicle all notarial acts performed regarding electronic records’; a tangible journal ‘shall be a permanent, bound register with numbered pages’ and an electronic one ‘shall be in a permanent, tamper-evident electronic format complying with the rules of the secretary of state.’ CONTENTS – 456-B:8-c(III), contemporaneous with the act: ‘(a) The date and time of the notarial act; (b) A description of the record, if any, and type of notarial act; (c) The full name and address of each individual for whom the notarial act is performed; (d) If identity of the individual is based on personal knowledge, a statement to that effect; (e) If identity of the individual is based on satisfactory evidence, a brief description of the method of identification and the identification credential presented, if any, including the date of issuance and expiration of the identification credential; and (f) The fee, if any, charged by the notary public.’ CUSTODY – loss, lost access or theft must be reported promptly to the Secretary of State (IV); on resignation, revocation or suspension the notary retains the journal and tells the Secretary of State where it is (V); a current or former notary may instead transmit it to a repository approved by the Secretary of State (VI); on death or adjudication of incompetency the personal representative or guardian retains or transmits it (VII). FOR ORDINARY IN-PERSON ACTS THERE IS NO JOURNAL DUTY, and the Secretary of State says so on its Notary Public page: ‘Although New Hampshire law does not require notaries to keep a journal of their notarial acts, the National Notary Association recommends that you do so.’ A CONFLICT RECORDED BOTH WAYS: that sentence is written without qualification and does not carve out remote notarizations, while RSA 456-B:8-c(I) plainly requires a journal for them; this record follows the statute for remote acts and the agency for ordinary acts, and flags the agency sentence as overbroad rather than silently choosing. SEPARATELY, remote acts also carry a recording duty – RSA 456-B:6-a(III)(c) requires that ‘The notary public, or a person acting on behalf of the notary public, creates an audio-visual recording of the performance of the notarial act,’ and 456-B:6-a(VI) requires that recording to be retained, by the notary or a designated repository, ‘for a period of at least 10 years after the recording is made’ unless a Secretary of State rule sets a different period.

Online (remote) notarization

New Hampshire authorizes remote online notarization, and it requires a registration separate from your commission.

New Hampshire authorizes notarization for a remotely located individual under RSA 456-B:6-a, added by Laws 2021, ch. 206:2, Pt. II, sec. 7, EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 6, 2022 (the section’s Source note reads ‘Source. 2021, 206:2, Pt. II, Sec. 7, eff. Feb. 6, 2022’). The same act rewrote the surrounding chapter – 455:3, 455:11, 456-B:2-a, 456-B:2-b, 456-B:3, 456-B:8-a, 456-B:8-b and 456-B:8-c all carry the same February 6, 2022 effective date. HOW IT WORKS: RSA 456-B:2-a states the baseline rule (’the individual making the statement or executing the signature shall appear personally before the notarial officer’), and RSA 456-B:6-a(II) supplies the exception – ‘A remotely located individual may comply with RSA 456-B:2-a, and any other requirement under the law of this state to appear before or be in the presence of a notary public at the time of a notarial act, by using communication technology to appear before a notary public.’ ‘Communication technology’ means a device or process that ‘Allows a notary public and a remotely located individual to communicate with each other simultaneously by sight and sound’ and, when necessary, facilitates communication with someone who has a vision, hearing or speech impairment (456-B:6-a(I)(a)). CONDITIONS – 456-B:6-a(III): the notary must be LOCATED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE; must identify the individual by personal knowledge, by a credible witness’s oath, or ‘by using at least 2 different types of identity proofing’; must be ‘able reasonably to confirm that a record before the notary public is the same record in which the remotely located individual made a statement or on which the individual executed a signature’; and must create (or have created) an audio-visual recording of the act. For a signer OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES the record must be destined for a US court, official or entity, or involve US property or a transaction substantially connected with the United States, and the act must not be prohibited where the signer is (456-B:6-a(III)(d)). CERTIFICATE – the certificate must indicate that communication technology was used, and a short form is sufficient if it contains a statement substantially as follows: ‘This notarial act involved the use of communication technology’ (456-B:6-a(IV)-(V)). REGISTRATION IS A NOTIFICATION, NOT A LICENCE – 456-B:6-a(VII): ‘Before a notary public performs the notary public’s initial notarial act under this section, the notary public must notify the secretary of state that the notary public will be performing notarial acts with respect to remotely located individuals and identify the technologies the notary public intends to use.’ If the Secretary of State has adopted standards, the technology and identity proofing must conform. No fee for this notification appears in RSA 456-B or RSA 5:10. DEFAULT IDENTITY-PROOFING STANDARD – 456-B:6-a(X): absent a Secretary of State rule, ‘a notary public shall comply with the credential analysis and authentication provisions of the Standards for Remote Online Notarization (Version 1) adopted by The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization on August 28, 2019,’ and compliance satisfies the two-types-of-identity-proofing requirement. RECORD RETENTION: audio-visual recording at least 10 years (456-B:6-a(VI)); journal for remote acts, 10 years (456-B:8-c(I)). FEE: $25 per remote act, not $10 – RSA 455:11(III). A SEPARATE, NARROWER NOTIFICATION covers merely ELECTRONIC records with the signer present: RSA 456-B:8-b(II). Conflating the two notifications is the easiest New Hampshire error: notifying under 456-B:8-b does not authorize a remotely located signer.

What you may charge

$10 per act, with three statutory exceptions and a fourth figure supplied by the agency. RSA 455:11: ‘Notaries public shall be entitled to a fee of up to $10 for each oath, witness, service, or certification with the following exceptions: I. For services related to the taking of depositions, the notary public shall be entitled to the same fees as justices are entitled to receive pursuant to RSA 517:19. II. No fees shall be allowed for administering and certifying oaths of office of town officers. III. For performing notarial acts for a remotely located individual under RSA 456-B:6-a, a notary public shall be entitled to a fee of $25 per act.’ The $25 remote fee and the RSA 517:19 deposition cross-reference both entered with Laws 2021, 206:2, Pt. II, Sec. 2, effective February 6, 2022. THE DEPOSITION AND TRAVEL FIGURES ARE RECORDED BOTH WAYS: RSA 455:11(I) resolves deposition fees only by cross-reference to RSA 517:19, whose text was NOT read when this page was last verified, while the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page states concrete numbers – ‘Exception: For depositions, you can charge a fee of $5.00 but no more than $50.00. You are also entitled to $0.20/mile when traveling to swear in witnesses.’ This record reports both and does not expand the statutory cross-reference into a dollar figure of its own. NO GENERAL TRAVEL FEE for ordinary notarizations is authorized in RSA 455:11; the only mileage figure found is the Secretary of State’s $0.20/mile tied specifically to travelling to swear in witnesses. The town-officer exception is stated identically by both tiers – the SOS writes ‘You cannot charge a fee to administer oaths of office for town officers.’

Who does NOT need a commission — exemptions

RSA 456-B:3(I): ‘A notarial act may be performed within this state by the following persons: (a) A notary public of this state; (b) A judge, marital master, clerk, deputy clerk, register of probate, or deputy register of probate of any court of this state; or (c) A justice of the peace of this state.’ RSA 456-B:3(II) gives the same effect to notarial acts performed in New Hampshire under federal authority as provided in RSA 456-B:5, and RSA 456-B:3(IV) adds a narrow lawyer authority: ‘Any person admitted to the practice of law in this state may administer an oath or affirmation for the purpose of taking oral testimony.’ Note that RSA 456-B:3(III) treats the signature plus seal or stamp as prima facie evidence of genuineness and title, and RSA 455:3(I) gives every notary ’the same powers as a justice of the peace in relation to depositions and the acknowledgment of deeds and other instruments and the administering of oaths.’ A separate New Hampshire office reaches acts performed elsewhere: a COMMISSIONER OF DEEDS, appointed by the Governor and Council for 5 years in any state, district, territory or foreign country (RSA 455:12), ‘may, both within and without this state, administer oaths, take depositions and affidavits to be used in this state… and take the acknowledgment of deeds or instruments to be used or recorded in this state, in the same manner and with the same effect as a justice of the peace of this state may do within the state’ (RSA 455:14), after filing an oath with the Secretary of State within 3 months (RSA 455:13). RSA 455:15 preserves the powers of commissioners for other states and of court-appointed commissioners. VALIDITY SAVING CLAUSE – RSA 456-B:8-d: ‘The failure of a notarial officer to perform a duty or meet a requirement specified in this chapter or RSA 455 does not invalidate a notarial act performed by the notarial officer,’ though it does not validate an act by someone without authority to perform notarial acts. Tiers searched: RSA ch. 455 in full, RSA ch. 456-B in full (including 456-B:3, 456-B:4, 456-B:5 and 456-B:6), and the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page, on 2026-08-12. RSA 456-B:5 (‘Notarial Acts Under Federal Authority’) is cited by RSA 456-B:3(II) but its own text was not separately extracted, so this record makes no claim about military notarial authority under 10 U.S.C. 1044a.

How to apply

Applications are handled by New Hampshire Department of State, Office of the Secretary of State (commissions are issued by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Executive Council). Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in New Hampshire

New Hampshire Department of State, Office of the Secretary of State publishes a public license search , searchable by No public search – see covers. It covers NO PUBLIC NOTARY LOOKUP WAS FOUND. The Secretary of State’s Notary Public page describes the full lifecycle – application, appointment, oath, seal, fees, renewal – and never mentions a searchable register, and it states affirmatively that ‘New Hampshire does not have commission numbers,’ which removes the identifier most lookup tools key on. What the page does describe is a certification-on-request model: ‘Return the oath to the Secretary of State’s Office as soon as possible. Unless we have your oath on file, we cannot certify that you are qualified as a Notary Public,’ and RSA 5:10 prices that service at ‘$10’ for ’every certificate for a notary public or justice of the peace.’ So verification in New Hampshire runs through a paid certificate from the Secretary of State, not a free public database. Tiers searched on 2026-08-12: the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page (read in full), its Public Services page, RSA ch. 455 in full and RSA ch. 456-B in full – none establishes a public register. The URL recorded here is the division page, not a lookup endpoint.

Records come from New Hampshire Department of State, Office 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

How long does a New Hampshire notary commission last?

Five years – the longest term in this batch. RSA 455:1: ‘Notaries public shall be appointed by the governor, with advice and consent of the executive council, and shall be commissioned for 5 years.’ The Secretary of State ties the start date to the appointment: ‘your commission as a Notary Public will be valid for 5 years from the date the Governor and Executive Council confirm your appointment.’

Does New Hampshire require a notary exam, training or bond?

None of the three. RSA 455:1 and 455:2 condition the commission on appointment by the Governor and Executive Council, New Hampshire (or abutting-state-plus-employment) residency, a sworn statement about unannulled convictions, and endorsement ‘by 2 notaries public and a registered voter of this state.’ No examination, course of study, surety bond or errors & omissions policy appears anywhere in RSA ch. 455, RSA ch. 456-B, RSA 5:10 or the Secretary of State’s Notary Public page. What the state provides instead is a free manual, which RSA 455:17 requires the Secretary of State to prepare with the Attorney General’s approval and distribute to every commissioned notary.

Who has to endorse a New Hampshire notary application?

Three people. RSA 455:2: ‘The applicant shall be endorsed for appointment by 2 notaries public and a registered voter of this state.’ The Secretary of State restates it as ‘Two notaries public and one registered New Hampshire voter must endorse your application,’ and adds that the back of the application carries an Acknowledgement of Criminal Record Check that must also be completed.

How much does a New Hampshire notary commission cost?

$75, paid by mailed check or cash. RSA 5:10: ‘For every commission issued to a justice of the peace or to a notary public, $75, $25 of which shall be deposited into the fund established by RSA 5:10-b.’ The Secretary of State charges the same amount and requires the original paper application: ‘Please mail the ORIGINAL completed application along with the $75 fee (check made payable to “State of New Hampshire” or cash) to the Secretary of State’s Office, Room 204, 107 North main Street, Concord, NH 03301.’ The only other cost is the seal or stamp, which the state does not supply.

How long does it take to become a notary in New Hampshire?

Eight to ten weeks, because a notary is appointed by the Governor and Executive Council at two separate meetings. The Secretary of State describes the sequence: the criminal record check against the N.H. State Police database, then submission to the Governor and Executive Council for nomination, then submission ‘at a different meeting than the one at which you were nominated’ for appointment. Within a week of appointment the commission, oath and manual arrive, and the appointee must take the oath before two justices of the peace, two notaries public, or one of each, and return it: ‘Unless we have your oath on file, we cannot certify that you are qualified as a Notary Public.’

How much can a New Hampshire notary charge?

RSA 455:11 sets ‘a fee of up to $10 for each oath, witness, service, or certification,’ with three exceptions: deposition-related services are paid at the justices’ rate under RSA 517:19; ‘No fees shall be allowed for administering and certifying oaths of office of town officers’; and ‘For performing notarial acts for a remotely located individual under RSA 456-B:6-a, a notary public shall be entitled to a fee of $25 per act.’ On the deposition figure the Secretary of State publishes concrete numbers the statute does not – ‘For depositions, you can charge a fee of $5.00 but no more than $50.00. You are also entitled to $0.20/mile when traveling to swear in witnesses.’

Do New Hampshire notaries have to keep a journal?

Only for remote notarizations. RSA 456-B:8-c(I): ‘A notary public shall maintain a journal in which the notary public chronicles all notarial acts the notary public performs with respect to a remotely located individual under RSA 456-B:6-a,’ retained for 10 years after the last act recorded in it. For ordinary in-person notarizations there is no journal duty, and the Secretary of State’s page says so – though it says so without carving out remote acts, so the statute controls for those.

Can a New Hampshire notary notarize for someone who is not physically present?

Yes, since February 6, 2022, after notifying the Secretary of State. RSA 456-B:6-a(II) lets a remotely located individual appear ‘by using communication technology,’ and 456-B:6-a(VII) requires that ‘Before a notary public performs the notary public’s initial notarial act under this section, the notary public must notify the secretary of state that the notary public will be performing notarial acts with respect to remotely located individuals and identify the technologies the notary public intends to use.’ The notary must be in New Hampshire, must identify the signer by personal knowledge, a credible witness, or at least two types of identity proofing, must record the session audio-visually and keep the recording at least 10 years, must keep a journal of those acts, and must state on the certificate that ‘This notarial act involved the use of communication technology.’ The fee for such an act is $25 rather than $10.

What is a New Hampshire notary's commission number?

There isn’t one. The Secretary of State states: ‘Please be advised that New Hampshire does not have commission numbers. If you are asked for a commission number, please write N/A (not applicable).’ What must appear instead is the expiration date – ‘Any time you endorse a document or sign an acknowledgement as a Notary Public, you must type, print, or stamp your name and state the expiration of your commission on the document’ – which RSA 455:3(II) also requires on the seal or stamp itself.

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in New Hampshire.

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.