A Hawaii professional engineer seal uses two concentric circles, 1-1/2 and 1-1/8 inches in diameter, and carries your name, license number and branch abbreviation. Hawaii, U.S.A. circles the outer ring while the profession legend sits in the center. You may apply it with an embosser or an inked rubber stamp. This page covers the seal face, size, devices, signing, sealed documents, digital signatures and renewal.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) and the Board of Professional Engineers, Architects, Surveyors, and Landscape Architects. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Outline | Two circles, one set inside the other. | Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) |
| Circle diameters | Outer circle 1-1/2 inches; inner circle 1-1/8 inches. | Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a)(1) |
| Outer ring text | Hawaii, U.S.A. | Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) |
| Center text | The profession legend and your license number, with engineers adding a branch abbreviation after the number. | Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) |
| Name | Shown in the form under which you hold your license. | Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) |
| Devices | An embossing seal or an inked rubber stamp, built to the design the Board authorizes. | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 464-11 |
| Signing and dating | A bare signature with a date is not the Hawaii format; the four cited subsections govern. | Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-9(a), (b), (c), (e) |
| What gets sealed | Plans, specifications, maps, reports, surveys and descriptions you prepared or supervised, and each sheet of a design drawing set, once filed with public officials. | Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-9(a) |
| Electronic work | Permitted. A digital signature is an encrypted code attached to an electronically sent document that confirms its contents and its sender. | Haw. Admin. R. §§ 16-115-2, 16-115-9(e) |
| License term and lapse | Licenses run out on April 30 in even-numbered years and stop being valid without renewal. Seal use during a lapse is not separately addressed. | Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 464-9(c), 464-11 |
For the same rule in the other 53 jurisdictions, read professional engineer seal requirements by state.
What does the face of a Hawaii engineer seal show?
Six items make up the design. The outline is two concentric circles. Hawaii, U.S.A. runs around the outer ring. The center holds the profession legend and your license number, followed for engineers by a branch abbreviation. Your name appears in its licensed form.
Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) calls for a profession legend and a branch abbreviation, and this page does not reproduce the wording of either. Confirm both against the rule text rather than copying an older stamp or a colleague's drawing set. The branch code is an engineer-only item, so other licensees under the same rule leave it off.
For a second look at the same seal face, see our earlier post on Hawaii PE stamp requirements.
How large are the two circles on a Hawaii PE stamp?
The outer circle is 1-1/2 inches in diameter and the inner circle is 1-1/8 inches, nested one inside the other. Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a)(1) gives both figures, so a die cut to those two diameters matches the published geometry.
That leaves a narrow outer band for Hawaii, U.S.A. and a 1-1/8 inch center for the legend, the license number and the branch code. With that much text in a small space, ask for a proof at actual size and read each line before you approve it.
Can a Hawaii engineer choose a rubber stamp over an embosser?
Yes, either device is lawful. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 464-11 authorizes a seal or a rubber stamp made to the design the Board authorizes, and the board rules keep using the pairing seal or stamp, so both options are open to you.
Choose by how your filings travel. An inked impression carries through to scans and photocopies, while an embossed seal leaves a raised mark on the sheet it presses. Both can be made from the same artwork if you want one for each purpose. More background is in our post on Hawaii professional engineering seals.
How do you sign and date a sealed Hawaii document?
Not with a plain signature and date. Hawaii departs from that simple pairing, and the governing text is Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-9(a), (b), (c), (e). Those subsections control what you add to a sealed sheet, so read them before your first filing.
This page does not restate those subsections. One point is settled by the design rule: the element list in Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) includes no signature line and no date line, so the die itself does not need either one.
Which Hawaii documents need the engineer's seal?
Work you prepared or supervised that is filed with public officials: plans, specifications, maps, reports, surveys and descriptions. For design drawings the duty reaches every sheet in the set, so sealing only the title sheet would leave the other sheets out.
The trigger is the filing itself. When a drawing set, report or survey goes to a public official, each covered item carries your impression under Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-9(a). Our post on Hawaii engineering stamp laws is a related read.
Does Hawaii accept a digital signature on electronic files?
Yes. Electronic sealing is permitted, and Haw. Admin. R. §§ 16-115-2, 16-115-9(e) describe the digital signature involved: a code produced and checked through public encryption, attached to a document sent electronically, that confirms the document's contents and who sent it.
The definition also expects encryption protections built on a set of algorithms that test whether the file is authentic. That describes an encrypted code, not a picture of your handwriting pasted into a PDF, so choose signing software with that distinction in mind.
What happens to a Hawaii seal when the license lapses?
Every Hawaii license runs out on April 30 in even-numbered years and is invalid from then on unless you renew. The cited rules contain no separate provision on using the seal during a lapse, so the license date is the one to track.
Put the renewal on your calendar well ahead of April 30 in even-numbered years, especially if a filing is scheduled for early May. Renewing first keeps every sealed set tied to a license that is still valid.
What should you have ready before ordering a Hawaii seal?
Your name exactly as licensed, your license number, your branch abbreviation and the profession legend required by Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a). Then pick a device: an embosser, an inked rubber stamp, or one of each.
Copy the name from your license instead of typing it from memory, since the rule ties the seal to the licensed form of your name. Our guide to Hawaii engineer stamp regulations is a useful companion while you gather these details.
How do you check a new Hawaii stamp before it touches a filed sheet?
Stamp a test sheet and measure it: the outer circle should come to 1-1/2 inches and the inner to 1-1/8 inches. Then confirm Hawaii, U.S.A. runs around the outer ring and the legend, number and branch code sit in the center.
Scan or copy the test sheet at the size your filings use and read every character on the copy. For an embosser, check the raised impression under angled light. Our post on Hawaii engineer stamp guidelines is a related read.
Who authorizes the design of a Hawaii engineer seal?
The Board of Professional Engineers, Architects, Surveyors, and Landscape Architects. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 464-11 ties the seal or stamp to a design the Board has authorized, and Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) sets out the elements of that design.
That makes the rule text, not a catalog listing or an old impression, the reference point for every proof you approve. Where this page and the rule ever differ, follow the rule.
Frequently asked questions
Where does my name go on a Hawaii engineer seal?
The rule puts Hawaii, U.S.A. around the outer ring and the legend and license number in the center. This page does not state where your name sits, so confirm its position against the layout in Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) when you review the proof.
Can I order a smaller Hawaii seal to fit a tight title block?
The rule gives two diameters, 1-1/2 and 1-1/8 inches, and nothing in the facts checked for this page allows a smaller device. Plan the title block around the stated size.
Is a self-inking stamp acceptable in Hawaii?
The statute authorizes a rubber stamp of the Board's design. A self-inking unit is a rubber stamp with its own ink pad, so the questions that matter are the design and the two diameters.
Do architects and surveyors add a branch abbreviation too?
No. Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a) lists the branch abbreviation for engineers only, so other licensees covered by the rule leave it off their seals.
Does the seal need to show my license expiration date?
No expiration date appears in the element list in Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-8(a). Dates on sealed documents fall under the signing provisions in Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-9(a), (b), (c), (e), which you should read directly.
Does the sealing duty cover documents never filed with a public official?
The duty in Haw. Admin. R. § 16-115-9(a) is tied to filing with public officials. The facts checked for this page do not address documents that stay inside a firm or go only to a private client.
When your license details are in hand, choose the device that suits your filings from our Hawaii engineer stamps and seals.
