How to Become a Notary Public in Utah

The essentials, drawn from the Notary Office pages and Utah Code Title 46, Chapter 1 (the Notaries Public Reform Act):

Section 46-1-3 lists the qualifications. You must be at least 18, be able to read, write and understand English, and be either a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident under Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. You also need a Utah connection that has lasted at least 30 days immediately before you apply: either lawful residence in the state or employment here. That tie must continue for the whole term, and a notary who loses it has to resign.

The application asks about criminal convictions, including pleas of no contest, and about any notary commission or professional license that was ever denied, revoked, suspended or restricted in any state. The Lieutenant Governor may deny an applicant for a crime involving dishonesty or moral turpitude, for past license discipline, for official misconduct as a notary, or for failing the exam. If you need to explain a past conviction, the Notary Office lets you upload a separate written explanation.

Begin at notaryapplication.utah.gov. Applicants who had unfinished submissions in the old system must start over, because incomplete records were not carried across. The 2022 study guide warns that the name you enter becomes the name on your commission and your stamp, so use the exact legal name that appears on your ID and that you want on your seal. The same guide notes that the business address and work phone you provide appear in the public notary search.

The exam sits inside the application. You take it first and pay afterward: the Notary Office says to be ready to pay the $95 administration fee right after the test, and results appear as soon as payment goes through. If you fail, each retest costs $40, but only within 30 days of the first attempt; after that the full $95 applies again. Passing does not submit your application. The companion Utah notary exam guide explains the scoring and content.

Every applicant has been required to complete a background check since November 1, 2019. Under section 46-1-3(3) the Lieutenant Governor has the Division of Human Resource Management run it, and you sign a waiver authorizing the search. You will not be told when it clears, so the Notary Office tells applicants to move on to the bond and oath without waiting.

Section 46-1-4 says a commission does not take effect until you file a $5,000 bond written by a licensed surety for the full four-year term and take the constitutional oath of office. The Notary Office has no preferred bonding companies and estimates most bonds cost about $50. You must sign the bond as principal, the name on it must match your application exactly, and it must be dated within 90 days of the day your commission is approved. Remember that the bond protects the public, not you; if the surety pays a claim, it can recover that money from you.

The oath form usually arrives with the bond. If yours did not, download the blank form from notary.utah.gov and have your signature notarized by another notary before uploading it; an unnotarized oath gets the application rejected.

Upload the signed bond and notarized oath. There is no final submit button, so once the documents are in, your part is done and the office emails a Certificate of Authority after processing. The office's home page advertised a finished commission in just under two weeks. Only then order your seal and journal from a private supplier. Under section 46-1-17 a seal vendor may not sell you a seal unless you present a copy of your commission attached to a notarized declaration, so the certificate has to come first.

Section 46-1-3(5) says an expired commission ends your authority until you obtain a new one through a new application, and the Notary Office confirms Utah has no renewal process. Current notaries can link their existing commission to an account in the new system and may start a new application within 90 days of their expiration date. Put your current expiration date on the new bond so the terms do not overlap, and order a new seal, since section 46-1-16 requires one with every new commission. Your new commission will also carry the physical journal requirement if you did not keep one before.