Illinois requires an official seal on your notarial acts, and the statute fixes both its wording and its outside dimensions. The imprint is rectangular, no taller than 1 inch and no longer than 2.5 inches, and a serrated or milled edge border closes it in. Black is the ink. This page walks each required line, the size ceiling, and the notices owed after a name change or a missing seal.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against 5 ILCS 312/3-101(a) and the Illinois Secretary of State. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp required | Yes. A notary authenticates official acts with the seal. | 5 ILCS 312/3-101(a) |
| Wording on the face | Six items in all: the phrase "Official Seal", your printed official name, the line "Notary Public, State of Illinois", a commission number line, an expiration line, and a border around everything. | 5 ILCS 312/3-101(a) |
| Commission number | The words "Commission No." carry your commission number. | 5 ILCS 312/3-101(a) |
| Expiration line | The words "My Commission Expires" carry the date, given as the month, the day and the year in full. | 5 ILCS 312/3-101(a) |
| Border | A serrated or milled edge encloses the whole imprint. | 5 ILCS 312/3-101(a) |
| Size and shape | Rectangular. One inch high by 2.5 inches long is the outer limit. | 5 ILCS 312/3-101(a) |
| Ink color | Black. | The Illinois Secretary of State |
| Embosser | Not addressed, and in practice ruled out as a stand-in for the stamp. | Not addressed in the cited rules |
| Commission term | Four years to a term. | The Illinois Secretary of State |
| Seal lost or stolen | Written notice goes to the Secretary of State on the next business day after you find it gone. | The Illinois Secretary of State |
For the same rule in the other 53 jurisdictions, read notary seal requirements by state.
Does an Illinois notary have to own a seal?
Yes. The seal is how an Illinois notary authenticates official acts, so it is equipment you are expected to hold rather than an optional accessory. The statute then spends most of its words on what the face has to say.
That emphasis is worth taking seriously when you order. A device that looks like a notary stamp but carries the wrong lines is not a notary stamp for Illinois purposes.
What wording must appear on the imprint?
Six things, all of them fixed by 5 ILCS 312/3-101(a). Five are lines of text and the sixth is the border that surrounds them.
- The phrase "Official Seal"
- Your official name, printed
- The line "Notary Public, State of Illinois"
- The words "Commission No." with your commission number after them
- The words "My Commission Expires" with your expiration date after them
- A serrated or milled edge border enclosing all of it
Two of those items are worded down to the label. The number line is introduced by "Commission No." and the date line by "My Commission Expires", so a die that prints the number or the date bare is short of what the statute asks for. A layout sample showing how the six Illinois lines stack is the quickest way to see the spacing problem before you approve artwork.
The expiration date has its own format. Give the month, the day and the complete year rather than an abbreviated year. Readers who want the same ground at more length can work through the full set of Illinois notary seal requirements.
How large can an Illinois notary stamp be?
One inch high by 2.5 inches long, and no more. The shape is rectangular. Both figures set an upper bound rather than a required size, so a smaller rectangle complies and the cited rule names no lower limit.
The practical squeeze is that five lines of required text plus a border have to fit inside that rectangle and still read after a document is copied. Long names and long county or business lines are where legibility goes first, which is why the layout matters more here than the outside measurement does.
Is the serrated border optional?
No. The border is listed alongside the text items, and the rule describes it as serrated or milled. A plain rectangle of type with no edge treatment does not match what the statute asks for.
Because the border is part of the required face, it also fixes the shape. The rule names a rectangle, which leaves no room for a round Illinois notary die. How these design points sit inside Illinois notary law is worth a read if you are reconciling old artwork against the current wording.
Which ink color does Illinois want?
Black. That applies to the seal imprint itself, so a colored pad is the wrong purchase even when the color is attractive on the page.
Black also does the work that matters after the notarization, because dark imprints survive photocopying and scanning far better than colored ones. If your office standardizes on a house color for other stamps, the notary device is the one to keep out of that scheme.
Can an embosser take the place of the stamp?
No. An embosser is not addressed in the cited rules, and it is effectively excluded as a substitute for the required seal. Nothing here turns an uninked raised impression into the device Illinois asks a notary to use.
Owning a press for your own purposes is a separate question from compliance, and the compliance answer is that the stamped imprint is what the law looks for. A raised impression also carries the same photocopy problem that colored ink does.
How long does a commission run, and when does the die change?
Four years to a term. Because both your commission number and your expiration date print on the face, a new term means a new stamp rather than a corrected one.
That is the single most common reason an Illinois notary reorders. Plan the replacement around the date you already carry on the current die, and read what a renewal changes on the face of the stamp before you send the old artwork back to a supplier unchanged.
What has to be reported when your name or address changes?
Written notice to the Index Department of the Secretary of State, within 30 days. The duty covers a change of legal name, residential address, business address and email address alike.
Only one of those four reaches the die. A legal name change makes the printed name on the imprint wrong, so the notice and the reorder are two separate jobs and doing one does not handle the other.
What do you do if the seal is lost or stolen?
Write to the Secretary of State on the next business day after you notice the seal is gone. The clock starts when you realize it is missing rather than when it went missing, so the moment you know is the moment the duty begins.
Treat the replacement order as a fresh build rather than a reprint of whatever file you had. A working checklist of the Illinois stamp requirements is useful for confirming the new face before it goes to production.
What should you have ready before you order?
Four things: your official name as it is commissioned, your commission number, your expiration date written out with the full year, and confirmation that the die will print in black with a serrated or milled border.
Check each against your commission paperwork rather than against an older stamp, since an older stamp is exactly where a stale number or date survives. Notaries who also keep a record of their acts will find our guide to the Illinois notary journal a sensible companion purchase to sort out at the same time.
How do you check an impression before using it in the field?
Print the seal on ordinary white paper, read every line against your commission certificate, then photocopy the sheet and read it again. Anything that thickens, fills in or drops out at that stage will do the same thing on a recorded document.
Measure the imprint while you have it in front of you. Height at or under 1 inch and length at or under 2.5 inches is the test, and a device that prints larger than the artwork suggested is better caught on your own desk than at a recorder's counter.
Frequently asked questions
Does a smaller stamp still comply in Illinois?
Yes. The rule gives a maximum of 1 inch by 2.5 inches and sets no minimum, so a smaller rectangle is permitted. Legibility is the limit you will hit first, because all five text lines and the border still have to be readable.
Can the notary's signature be a color other than black?
The cited rules fix black for the seal. No separate color instruction for your pen appears in what was read here, so the reliable statement is that the imprint is black.
Does an Illinois notary stamp carry a county line?
No county line appears among the six required items. The state line reads "Notary Public, State of Illinois", and nothing in the cited rule adds a county to the face.
Does the expiration date have to show a four digit year?
The rule asks for the month, the day and the complete year, so write the year out in full rather than shortening it to two digits.
Can the same stamp carry over into a new commission term?
No, as a practical matter. Your commission number and expiration date are both printed on the face, and a new term changes at least the date, so the old die stops being accurate.
Who commissions notaries in Illinois?
The Illinois Secretary of State. That is also the office you write to when a seal goes missing, and the Index Department there takes your name and address changes.
Bring your commission certificate to the order form and build the face from it line by line. Our Illinois notary stamps and seals are cut to the rectangular format and the 1 by 2.5 inch limit the statute sets.
