A U.S. Virgin Islands engineer seal must bear your name and the legend Engineer, in a design the Board authorizes, and 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) prescribes nothing more. It sets no size, shape, license number, territory name or date, and no Board design is published. Your license also becomes invalid if you leave the territory. This page covers wording, devices, filings, lapse, firms and ordering.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against 27 V.I.C. § 286 and the Virgin Islands Board of Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal duty | Obtain a seal once your license is issued. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Name and legend | Your name plus the single word Engineer. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Number, territory, date | None of the three is prescribed. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Design | Whatever the Board authorizes. No published design or Board rules were found. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b); no board rules located |
| Diameter and shape | Neither is set. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b); no board rules located |
| Embosser or ink stamp | The statute says stamped and stops there; it names no device. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| After expiration | You may not affix the seal or let anyone else affix it. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Filing trigger | Plans, specifications, reports and similar documents you prepare, once filed with a public authority. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Electronic filings | Agency by agency, with no Board standard in place. | 11 V.I.C. §§ 107, 118 |
| License term | One year. DLCA gives permanent licenses a September 1 to August 31 cycle, and departure from the Virgin Islands voids them. | 27 V.I.C. § 287(a), (b); DLCA requirements page |
For the same rule in the other 53 jurisdictions, read professional engineer seal requirements by state.
What must the seal say?
Your name and the legend Engineer. Section 286(b) of title 27 names those two elements and nothing else, and it requires them on a seal whose design the Board authorizes. That is the whole statutory content list.
The legend is one word. The subsection does not call for Professional Engineer or the initials P.E., and it prescribes no discipline, license number, territory name or expiration date. Anything further would have to come from the Board's authorized design.
Who sets the seal's design and size?
The Board sets the design, and chapter 8 sets no size. Section 286(b) ties the seal to a design the Board authorizes, yet no published design and no promulgated Board rules could be located, and the chapter gives no diameter or shape.
So the missing detail sits with the Board itself. Engineer Seal Stamps holds no Board-approved Virgin Islands design, which means the design you order to has to come from the Board, in writing.
Should the seal be an embosser or an ink stamp?
Chapter 8 does not choose. Section 286(b) speaks only of signing and stamping documents with the seal, and nothing in it demands an embosser or excludes one; no Board guidance settling the point was found.
If the Board's authorized design specifies a device, follow it. Otherwise the statute leaves the format to you.
Which documents need the seal, and when?
Plans, specifications, reports, maps, plats and surveys you prepare, along with other documents of yours, once they are issued for filing with public authorities. Filing is the trigger in § 286(b), and each such document is signed and stamped.
The duty is tied to public filing rather than to every final document you hand a client. The statute pairs signature and seal but sets no dating rule anywhere in chapter 8, so whether to date a sheet is your call.
Will an agency accept an electronically sealed file?
That is each agency's decision. No Board standard for electronic seals could be found. Under 11 V.I.C. §§ 107, 118, electronic records and signatures have legal effect, and every Virgin Islands agency decides if it accepts them and to what degree.
An agency can also set the file format, signature type and control processes it requires. Ask the office you file with what it takes before sending a digitally sealed set.
Can you seal after your license expires?
No. Section 286(b) bars a licensee from affixing the seal to documents after the license has expired, or from letting anyone else affix it. The same subsection bars using the seal to help another person evade chapter 8.
Section 289 backs this up by making it a misdemeanor to use an expired, suspended or revoked license. A license runs one year, the Board's secretary is to send notice of the expiration date at least a month ahead, and the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs (DLCA) describes permanent licenses as running from September 1 to August 31.
What happens to your license if you leave the territory?
It becomes invalid. Under § 287(b), a license stops being valid automatically when the licensee leaves the Virgin Islands, and getting it back requires an affidavit, sworn before an authorized official, that your residence has resumed.
Residency is part of licensure from the start. Section 283 requires applicants to be at least twenty-one, U.S. citizens, and residents of the Virgin Islands for one year before they apply. Treat any move away from the territory as a licensing event, not just a change of address.
How does engineering overlap with land surveying here?
Chapter 8 pulls graduate civil engineers into surveying. Section 282(f) writes graduates in civil engineering from recognized colleges and universities into the practice of land surveying, while § 291(7) preserves an engineer's land surveying work when it is incidental to engineering.
Your seal still carries the Engineer legend, because § 286(b) matches the legend to the license. Our Virgin Islands land surveyor seal rules cover the Land Surveyor legend, and our Virgin Islands architect seal rules cover the Architect legend and § 291(6), which preserves engineering or surveying work an architect does incidental to architecture.
How do engineering firms practice without a certificate of authorization?
Through licensed individuals. Chapter 8 creates no certificate of authorization; instead, § 291(4) lets a partnership or corporation practice as long as every person acting for it holds a license and carries personal liability.
The Engineering Firm license is a separate DLCA credential, and a business license under 27 V.I.C. §§ 301 and 302 is needed as well. Section 286(b) puts no firm detail on the seal itself.
What should you supply when ordering?
Three things: your name exactly as licensed, the legend Engineer, and the Board's authorized design in writing. With those in hand, the seal can be made to the Board's specification rather than to a guess.
Our engineer seals are made to the state or territory specification the buyer supplies, and none of them is a Board-approved Virgin Islands design. When yours arrives, stamp a test sheet and compare the name, legend and layout with the Board's design before the seal goes on a filing.
Frequently asked questions
When do I have to obtain my seal?
On receipt of your license. Section 286(b) makes getting the seal part of becoming licensed, rather than something to arrange when your first filing comes due.
May I add P.E. or my license number to the seal?
Section 286(b) does not call for either, and the only other source of content is the Board's authorized design. Whether that design includes a number or P.E. could not be confirmed, so ask the Board before adding them.
Does the seal change when I renew each year?
Not under the statute. Section 286(b) puts no date and no license number on the seal, so nothing in its prescribed content turns over with the license year.
Can I seal Virgin Islands work with my mainland PE seal?
No. Section 289 makes it a misdemeanor to practice engineering in the territory without a license there, or to use a title implying a Virgin Islands license you do not hold. The legend and design have to come from your Virgin Islands license and the Board.
Do Virgin Islands notaries follow the same seal law?
No. Chapter 8 covers only architects, engineers and land surveyors. Notaries work under separate rules, which our page on U.S. Virgin Islands notary stamp rules sets out.
With the Board's design in writing, choose a device from our engineer seals and stamps collection and send that specification with your order.
