For more information please contact us at:
The Notary Public Section
North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State
P.O. Box 29626
Raleigh, North Carolina 27626-0626

e-mail: notary@sosnc.com
Phone Number: 919-807-2219

Reappointment Online

Reappointing Applicants, please click here for online application and Notary Exam. 

The North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State Notary Public Section regulates and defines North Carolina Notary Public policy; it educates, tests, qualifies and commissions notaries public. North Carolina Notaries Public facilitate commerce when they perform the following notarial acts:

1. Acknowledge signatures;
2. Administer oaths and affirmations, and;
3. Verify or prove signatures.

The Departments of the Secretary of State and Community Colleges implement a Notary Public Education Program to assure notaries comply with the law and deliver quality notary service. The Secretary of State educates the Notary Instructors who teach in the Community Colleges. The program educates notaries about legal, ethical and procedural requirements of notarial acts. North Carolina, the first state to do so, began notary training in1983; several other states formally train notaries. North Carolina remains in the vanguard of Notary Public education, testing, regulation and practice.  

North Carolina Notaries Public eligibility criteria (N.C.G.S. Chapter 10B) include:

1. Be at least 18 years of age or legally emancipated as defined in Article 35 of Chapter 7B of the General Statutes.
2. Reside or have a regular place of work or business in this State
3. Reside legally in the United States.
4. Speak, read, and write the English language.
5. Possess a high school diploma or equivalent.
6. Pass the course of instruction described in Chapter 10B, unless the person is a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar.
7. Purchase and keep as a reference the most recent manual approved by the Secretary that describes the duties and authority of notaries public.
8. Submit an application containing no significant misstatement or omission of fact. Every application shall include the signature of the applicant written with pen and ink, and the signature shall be acknowledged by the applicant before a person authorized to administer oaths.
9. Obtain the recommendation of one publicly elected official in North Carolina and submit the recommendation with the application. The requirement of this subdivision shall not apply to any applicant who seeks to receive the oath of office from the register of deeds of a county where more than 15,000 active notaries public are on record on January 1 of the year when the application is filed."