A Washington licensed geologist seal must show your licensed name and license number, the words State of Washington Licensed Geologist, and any specialty designation you hold. No diameter is set; the board instead publishes three authorized designs and bars variations. Physical and digital formats are both allowed. This page covers contents, size, formats, digital criteria, signing, sealed work, renewal and ordering.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Shown exactly as licensed. | Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070 |
| License number | Appears on the face. | Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070 |
| Legend | State of Washington Licensed Geologist. | Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070 |
| Specialty | Required on the face when you hold a specialty. | Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070 |
| Size and shape | No diameter given. The board publishes three authorized designs and prohibits departures from them. | Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070 (silent) |
| Formats | Physical and digital seals are both permissible. | Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070 |
| Digital identification | Unique, independently verifiable, under your exclusive control, and voided by any change to the document's data. | Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070, 308-15-075(3)(b) |
| Marks on each product | All three required marks, on every product. | Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-075(1), (2), (3) |
| Work to seal | Final work products in geology or a geology specialty that you prepared, supervised or directed and handed to others in public practice. | Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-075(1) |
| Renewal and lapse | Renewal, fees and reinstatement fall under the statute. The seal rules do not address use after a lapse. | RCW 18.220.110 |
What must a Washington geologist seal show?
Four elements under Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070: the name on your license, your license number, the legend State of Washington Licensed Geologist, and, when you hold one, your specialty designation.
Use your name exactly as it appears on your license and the number exactly as issued. The legend is fixed wording, so it goes on the face as the rule gives it.
For more on the finished stamp, see our page on the Washington geologist stamp for licensed professionals.
When does a specialty designation go on the seal?
Whenever you hold a specialty. Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070 lists the specialty designation among the seal's elements for any licensee who holds one, which makes it conditional on your credential rather than a matter of personal choice.
Match the face to your license record: include the specialty if your license carries one, and leave it off if it does not. If you add a specialty later, the seal face has to change with it.
What size and shape must the seal be?
Neither is stated. None of Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070, WAC 308-15-075 or RCW 18.220.090 gives a diameter. The board governs the face another way: it publishes three authorized designs and prohibits variations from them.
So the test for a new seal is less about inches and more about whether the layout follows an authorized design. A face that departs from those designs is a variation the board forbids, whatever its size.
In practice, choose a size at which every element stays legible on copies and scans.
Can you use a physical seal, a digital seal or both?
Both are allowed. Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070 says outright that a physical seal and a digital seal are each a permissible format, so paper deliverables and electronic ones can run side by side in the same office.
Whichever format you use, it has to follow one of the board's authorized designs, since variations are prohibited. Drawing both versions from the same artwork keeps them identical.
Our article on obtaining a Washington geologist seal covers getting the device itself.
What does a digital seal have to meet?
It has to meet the criteria for digital identification in Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-075(3)(b). Your identification must be unique, independently verifiable and under your exclusive control, and it must be set up so that any change to the document's data invalidates it.
That last test shapes your workflow. Because an edit to the file has to void the identification, apply it only to the final version and reissue if anything changes afterward.
Which marks go on every final product?
Three, every time: the seal, your signature and the date, under Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-075(1), (2), (3). A final product carrying only one or two of those marks is not complete.
Build all three into your issue step so nothing goes out short. For paper, that means stamping, signing and dating before release. For a digital file, it means applying the seal and the identification together at the end.
Which work products need the seal?
Every final work product in geology or a geology specialty that you prepared, or that was prepared under your supervision or direction, and that you hand to other parties in your public geology practice. The source is Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-075(1).
Three conditions have to line up: the product is final, it is geology work you prepared or oversaw, and it is submitted to another party.
Does renewal or a lapse affect the seal?
The seal rules do not address use after a lapse. Renewal, fees and reinstatement fall under RCW 18.220.110, with renewal at WAC 308-15-080, retired status at 308-15-083, withdrawal from active practice at 308-15-085 and reactivation at 308-15-087.
The listed seal elements include no expiration date, so renewing does not by itself change the face. Adding a specialty does.
What should you have ready when you order?
The name on your license, the license number, any specialty designation you hold, and your choice of format: physical, digital or both. The layout has to follow one of the board's three authorized designs.
Because no diameter is set, pick a size that suits your title blocks and report covers while keeping every element readable.
How do you check a new seal before first use?
Make a test impression and compare it with the authorized design: name as licensed, license number, the State of Washington Licensed Geologist legend and your specialty line if you hold one. Look for any departure from the published layout.
For a digital seal, make a test file, apply the identification, then edit the file and confirm the identification no longer validates. That shows the invalidation test is working before a real product depends on it.
Every other jurisdiction is compared in our geologist seal rules for all 54 U.S. jurisdictions, with the citation for each.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 1 1/2 inch or 2 inch Washington seal acceptable?
The rules state no diameter, so no number rules either size out. What matters is that the face follows an authorized design without variation.
Can my physical and digital seals use different layouts?
No. Each format has to follow one of the board's authorized designs, and variations from those designs are prohibited.
What happens to my digital seal if a client edits the PDF?
Under Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-075(3)(b), the identification has to be invalidated by any change to the document's data. An edited file should therefore no longer carry a valid identification.
Does a digital seal replace the signature and date?
No. Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-075(1), (2), (3) requires all three of its marks on each final product, in either format. A digital identification then has to meet the criteria in 308-15-075(3)(b).
Should my firm name or an expiration date appear on the seal?
Neither is among the elements in Wash. Admin. Code 308-15-070. The face carries your licensed name, license number, the legend and any specialty designation.
Once your name, number and any specialty are confirmed, order your seal from our Washington stamps and seals collection.
