How to Become a Notary in Pennsylvania (2026)

You can become a notary public in Pennsylvania if you are at least 18, a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident, and you either live in Pennsylvania or work or practice here — you do not have to be a Pennsylvania resident if your office is in the state. The Department of State runs the whole appointment, and the path has a fixed shape: a three-hour approved course, a $42 application, a $65 Pearson VUE exam, then a $25,000 bond and an oath recorded at your county recorder of deeds. Most people who move promptly get through it in roughly six to ten weeks, because the Department says application processing alone generally runs two to four weeks. The one part you cannot let slip is the end: once you are appointed, you have 45 days to finish the bond, oath and recording, or the commission is void.

Eligibility requirements

• Age. You must be at least 18 years old.
• Citizenship. You must be a citizen or permanent legal resident of the United States.
• Residency or employment. You must reside in Pennsylvania, or be employed or practice in Pennsylvania. An out-of-state resident with a Pennsylvania workplace qualifies on that basis.
• Language. You must be able to read and write English.
• Criminal history. A conviction — or Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) — for any felony, or for any misdemeanor involving fraud, dishonesty or deceit, within the five years preceding your application creates a presumption that you are ineligible. That presumption can only be overcome by clear and convincing evidence of full rehabilitation. Older convictions can still be weighed when the Department assesses your integrity, and a dishonest misstatement on the application is itself disqualifying.
• Incompatible offices. You cannot serve if you are a member of the U.S. Congress, a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, or a person holding a federal office or appointment of profit or trust for which you receive a salary, fees or perquisites.

Step by step

1. Take the three-hour education course. Every applicant completes at least three hours of notary education from a provider preapproved by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and it must be completed within the six months immediately preceding your application. The curriculum covers a notary's duties and responsibilities and includes electronic notarization. There is no exemption — this applies to first-time applicants and to renewing notaries alike, including notaries who were grandfathered under earlier rules. You deal with a private approved provider here, and the Department approves courses without setting their prices, so the cost varies.
2. File your application with the Department of State and pay $42. Apply online through the Department's notary portal at notaries.pa.gov, where you can upload your education certificate in one session, or mail a paper application to the Office of Notaries, Commissions & Legislation, North Office Building, 401 North Street, Room 201, Harrisburg, PA 17120. The filing fee is $42, the same for new applicants and renewals, payable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Your criminal history disclosure is reviewed at this stage. The Department says processing generally takes two to four weeks.
3. Pass the Pearson VUE exam — $65. After the Department reviews your application it authorizes you to test. The exam is administered by the Department's vendor, Pearson VUE, and costs $65 per attempt. You get six months from authorization to pass, and you may retake it as many times as you need inside that window. Renewing notaries who still hold a current, unexpired commission skip this step entirely. If you cannot pass within six months, you must retake the education course and reapply.
4. Receive your appointment from the Department of State. Once you pass, the Department issues the appointment and your commission — and the 45-day clock in the next three steps starts on that date.
5. Buy a $25,000 surety bond. Within 45 days of appointment you must execute a surety bond in the amount of $25,000. You buy this from a surety company or licensed insurance producer, not from the state. The state fixes the bond amount; the premium you actually pay is set by the surety and depends on the company and your credit, so budget for it as a variable cost.
6. Take the oath of office and register your signature at the county. Also within the 45 days, take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office and register your signature with the prothonotary of the county where you maintain your office — the recorder of deeds handles this in some counties, and in second-class counties it is the clerk of courts. Sign your name exactly and only as it appears on your commission.
7. Record the bond, commission and oath with the recorder of deeds. The final 45-day item: record all three documents in the recorder of deeds office for the county where your office is located. Recording fees are set county by county, so call your county office for the current amount. Miss the 45-day deadline and your commission becomes null and void — you start the entire appointment process again with a new fee.
8. Order your seal and journal. Before your first notarization you need an official rubber stamp seal and a journal. Both come from private vendors at prices they set.

What it costs in 2026

Item	Paid to	Cost
Three-hour education course	State-approved education provider	Varies — the Department approves providers but does not set course prices
Application filing fee	Pennsylvania Department of State	$42
Notary examination	Pearson VUE	$65 per attempt
$25,000 surety bond premium	Surety company or insurance producer	Varies — the state sets the bond amount, not the premium
Recording bond, commission and oath	County recorder of deeds	Set by each county
Signature registration	County prothonotary, recorder of deeds, or clerk of courts	Set by each county
Official rubber stamp seal	Private stamp vendor	Varies by vendor
Journal	Private vendor	Varies by vendor
Total, state-set fees only	Department of State + Pearson VUE	$107, plus the variable costs above

Two fees are fixed statewide and published by the Commonwealth — the $42 filing fee and the $65 exam — so $107 is the floor. Everything else is priced by a private provider or by your county, and Pennsylvania does not publish a schedule for those, so get quotes rather than working from an estimate. A failed exam attempt adds $65 each time.

The Pennsylvania notary exam

The exam is required of every first-time applicant and of anyone whose commission has lapsed or expired — even by a single day. It is a computer-based test from Pearson VUE, delivered at test centers across Pennsylvania, and it covers the statutes, regulations, procedures and ethics that govern notarial acts. Your first attempt may be taken online from home or the office; any retake has to happen at an approved Pearson VUE test center. The Department does not publish a pass rate.

Because the content is statute-driven rather than general knowledge, the efficient way to prepare is to work questions until the rules on identification, journal entries, disqualifying interests and certificate wording are automatic. Our free Pennsylvania notary practice test drills exactly that material, and it pairs well with the three-hour course you already have to take — the course teaches the rules, the questions tell you which ones have not stuck.

After you are commissioned

A Pennsylvania notary commission runs four years from the date of appointment, and you may be reappointed to another four-year term.

Your seal. The official seal is a rubber stamp no larger than one inch high by three and a half inches wide, and it must show, in order: "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," "Notary Seal," your name followed by "Notary Public," your county, your commission expiration date, and your commission number. Nothing may be abbreviated except a suffix in your name. An embosser is allowed as a supplement but never as a replacement for the stamp.

Your journal. A journal is mandatory. Keep it either as a bound register with numbered pages or in a tamper-evident electronic format, and make each entry at the time of the notarization — not afterward. Every entry records the date and time of the act, a description of the record and the type of notarial act, the full name and address of each individual involved, how you identified them (personal knowledge, or the details of the satisfactory evidence you relied on), and the fee you charged. When you resign or your commission expires, you must deliver your journals to the county recorder of deeds within 30 days.

What you may charge. The Commonwealth caps notarial fees: $5 for taking an acknowledgment (plus $2 for each additional name), $5 for administering an oath or affirmation, $5 for taking a verification on oath or affirmation, $5 for witnessing or attesting a signature, $5 for certifying or attesting a copy or deposition, and $3 for noting the protest of a negotiable instrument. Clerical and administrative charges such as copying, postage, travel and phone calls may be billed at a customary and reasonable rate and are not regulated by the Department. You may not charge anything to notarize the supporting affidavit for an Emergency Absentee Ballot.

Renewal. Reappointment repeats the three-hour course and the $42 fee, but not the exam — as long as your current commission has not expired when you apply. The Department recommends filing two to three months before your expiration date so your commission runs without a gap. Let it lapse and you are back to the $65 exam.

Remote and electronic notarization. Both are authorized in Pennsylvania. Electronic notarization has been available since January 30, 2006, and remote online notarization was made permanent by Act 97 of 2020, effective October 29, 2020. It is not automatic with your commission: before performing any electronic or remote act you must notify the Department of State, identify the specific technology you intend to use, and be approved. You must select from the Department's published list of approved electronic and remote notarization solution providers. Electronic and remote notaries may charge up to $20 per notarial act performed with electronic records or communication technology — considerably more than the $5 cap on a standard in-person acknowledgment.

Pennsylvania's process is more demanding than most states', but it is entirely predictable: the coursework and the exam are the only parts that require real study, and the rest is paperwork on a schedule. Treat the 45-day post-appointment window as the hard constraint it is — the bond, the oath and the recording all have to be finished inside it, and a missed deadline sends you back to the start rather than costing you a late fee. Confirm current fees and forms with the Pennsylvania Department of State before you file, since fees and approved-provider lists change independently of statute.

Official requirements at a glance

The figures below come from the official source documents linked in the table. They are included so you can make study and registration decisions from published requirements rather than an unsupported estimate.

Published detail	Value	Official source
The application fee for a Pennsylvania notary public commission is $42.00, payable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania	$The application fee is $42.00, payable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation
A notary commission is valid for a term of four years from the appointment date	A notary commission is valid for a term of four years from the appointment date	Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation