Illinois Notary Public Act: Requirements, Bond, and Fees

To become a notary in Illinois, you must be at least 18, meet the residency and background requirements in Section 2-102 of the Illinois Notary Public Act, complete an approved notary course and exam, purchase a $5,000 surety bond, and file an application with a $15 fee to the Secretary of State. Once approved, you finish the process at your county clerk’s office within 30 days. Illinois residents receive a four-year commission.¹

Who Qualifies

Section 2-102 of the Act sets six requirements you must meet before applying:

At least 18 years old.
A U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
An Illinois resident for at least 30 days before applying. If you live in a bordering state, you can still qualify if you have worked or maintained a business in Illinois for those 30 days and your home state grants reciprocal notary eligibility to Illinois residents.
Able to read and write English.
No felony convictions.
No prior notary commission revoked by the Secretary of State.

Border-state applicants who qualify receive a one-year commission rather than the standard four-year term.¹

Complete the Course, Exam, and Bond

Three prerequisites have to be in place before you send in the application.

Approved Course and Exam

First-time applicants and renewers must complete a course of study on notarization approved by the Secretary of State and pass an examination at the end of it.¹ The Secretary of State sets the content and length and approves the providers; providers set their own prices. Licensed attorneys, judges, and their employees may skip the course and exam by submitting a signed statement that they have read and understand the current version of the Act.

$5,000 Surety Bond

Every applicant must buy a $5,000 surety bond from a company licensed to write surety bonds in Illinois. The bond runs four years, matching your commission term.² The premium is typically $25 to $50 for the full term, not $5,000.

One point new notaries often miss: the bond protects the public, not you. If a claim is paid out of your bond, the surety will pursue you personally for repayment. Errors and omissions insurance, which pays claims without seeking reimbursement from you, is optional and separate.

You must sign your oath of office directly on the face of the bond, using the exact name under which you applied. A mismatch between the name on your bond and the name on your application will delay processing.²

File Your Application and Record With the County Clerk

With your course completion certificate and executed bond in hand, submit the application to the Secretary of State with the $15 filing fee.³ The application asks for your full legal name, residential address, bond details, and your signature exactly as it will appear on notarized documents.

Once the Secretary of State approves the application, your commission is forwarded to the county clerk in the county where you reside, or, for border-state applicants, the county where you work. The clerk notifies you, and you have two options to finish:⁴

Appear at the county clerk’s office in person, pay a $5 recording fee, and pick up your commission.
Send a written request with your specimen signature and a $10 recording fee, and the clerk mails your commission to you.

Watch the clock here. If you don’t arrange recording within 30 days of the clerk’s notification, the clerk sends a second notice. Ignore that one, and the clerk returns your commission to the Secretary of State for cancellation.⁴ This is one of the most common reasons applicants lose a commission they already paid for.

You’ll also need a rubber-stamp seal that includes your name, your commission expiration date, the words “Official Seal,” and “Notary Public, State of Illinois.” Stamps typically run $15 to $45.

Term Length and When You Have to Redo Things

Illinois residents get a four-year commission. Qualifying border-state residents get one year. An electronic notary commission runs on the same term as the traditional commission.¹

The Secretary of State sends a renewal notice roughly 60 days before expiration.⁵ Renewal repeats the initial steps: course, exam (unless the attorney or judge exemption applies), new bond, and $15 filing fee. If your commission lapses before you renew, you can’t perform notarial acts during the gap.

Changes during the term also matter. If you legally change your name, or change your residential, business, or email address, notify the Secretary of State’s Index Department in writing within 30 days. Fail to report any of these, and your commission ceases automatically. At that point you must surrender your seal, destroy your commission certificate, and file a brand-new application to continue as a notary.⁴ Moving out of your county is more disruptive still: you must resign your commission and apply fresh in the new county.

What It Costs

Standard traditional commission, budget roughly:

Education course: varies by provider.
Surety bond premium: about $25 to $50 for a four-year, $5,000 bond.
Filing fee: $15 to the Secretary of State.³
County clerk recording: $5 in person, $10 by mail.
Notary stamp: $15 to $45 depending on style.

Adding Electronic or Remote Online Notarization

If you want to notarize electronic documents or handle remote online notarizations by live audio-video (RON), you need a separate electronic notary commission on top of the traditional one under Article VI-A of the Act.

The bonding requirement is higher: an electronic or remote notary must carry a $25,000 surety bond covering remote and electronic acts. Combined with the standard $5,000 bond, the total is $30,000, and you can satisfy both with a single combined bond. Claim limits still apply separately. A claim from a traditional notarization draws only up to $5,000, and a claim from an electronic or remote notarization draws only up to $25,000; no single claim reaches the full $30,000.²

You must register your technology platform with the Secretary of State when you apply. Platforms must support live audio-video and provide credential analysis to verify remote signers. Subscription fees generally run $15 to $35 per month.

Rules You’re Agreeing to Follow

Identifying Signers

You must confirm the identity of every signer through one of three methods: personal knowledge of the signer, a credible witness you personally know who identifies the signer under oath, or a valid, unexpired government-issued identification bearing the individual’s photograph and signature.⁶ For in-person notarizations, the signer must be physically present with you. For RON, the signer appears digitally through an approved platform.

Maximum Fees

Fees are capped by law. In-person notarizations (acknowledgment, jurat, or oath) max out at $5 per act. Electronic or remote acts max out at $25. Electronic notaries may also charge a reasonable amount for copies of journal entries or session recordings. Immigration-form assistance has its own caps: $10 per form completed, $10 per page translated, and no more than $75 total for one complete immigration application, exclusive of government filing fees.⁴

Journal

Every notary must keep a journal, paper or electronic, with an entry for each act. Each entry records the signer’s name, any credible witness or person signing on behalf of the signer, the document’s title or description, the date, whether the act was in person, remote, or electronic, the fee charged, and the physical location of both you and the signer. The journal itself must show your name, signature, commission number, expiration date, and office address on file with the Secretary of State.⁷

Keep each journal for at least seven years after the last act recorded in it. It must contain a statement that on your death or adjudication of incompetency, whoever has it must deliver or mail it to the Secretary of State.⁷

What You Cannot Do

Unless you are a licensed Illinois attorney, you cannot provide legal advice or draft legal documents for others. You cannot notarize a document in which you have a direct financial or beneficial interest. And the Act specifically bans use of the term “notario publico” in any advertising or business dealings, because in many Latin American countries that term implies attorney-level authority. Violations of the Act range from Class B and Class A misdemeanors to commission revocation, and a revoked notary is barred from applying again for at least five years.⁸

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 5 ILCS 312 – Appointment Provisions
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code 14-176.340 – Bond
3
ILSOS.gov. Basic Fees
4
ILSOS.gov. Illinois Notary Public Handbook
5
ILSOS.gov. Notary Services
6
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 5 ILCS 312/6-102 – Acknowledgments
7
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code 14-176.900 – Journal Requirements
8
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 5 ILCS 312 – Liability and Revocation