Becoming a notary public in South Dakota

A South Dakota notary public is a public official commissioned by the Secretary of State to administer oaths, take acknowledgments and witness signatures. Becoming one is a paperwork process handled entirely by mail with the Secretary of State's office in Pierre — there is no exam, no required training course, and, as of a 2025 law change, no bond to buy.

Two recent, easy-to-miss changes are the reason this page exists: a $5,000 surety bond requirement was eliminated effective July 1, 2025, and fully remote online notarization (RON) became legal in 2024 under Senate Bill 211. Older guides, notary-course marketing sites and directories are frequently out of date on one or both. Every figure below links to the Secretary of State's own page, form or handbook.

The application itself is short, but three eligibility conditions are checked on it and in the oath you sign:

• Age. The oath requires you to affirm that you are “of legal age,” i.e. at least 18.
• Residency. You must be a South Dakota resident, or reside in an out-of-state county bordering South Dakota and work for a South Dakota employer at a South Dakota business address. A post office box, a business address alone, or a mailing address alone does not satisfy the residence requirement — the application asks for your physical residential address (SDCL 18-1-1).
• No felony convictions. The application asks directly whether you have ever been convicted of a felony. The Secretary of State's checklist warns that failing to answer this, or any required question, correctly — or leaving it blank — causes the application to be rejected.

There is no exam, no notary training course, and no continuing-education requirement to become or to renew.

The process is the same whether you are applying for the first time or renewing, and it is entirely paper-based — mailed, not filed online.

1. Get a notary seal. Rubber stamp, electronic, or embossing seal, in a circle, square or rectangle. It must show your name exactly as you intend to be commissioned and to sign, plus the words “Notary Public” and “South Dakota,” inside a full border. A rubber-stamp or electronic seal must also include the word “Seal” inside the border. There are no size or color requirements, and the state does not sell or provide the seal — it's purchased from an office-supply company, stationer or print shop.
2. Complete the Notary Public Application and Oath. Make a legible imprint of your seal in the box provided, fill in your name exactly as it appears on the seal, your physical residential address, date of birth, prior-commission history and the felony question. If you plan to offer electronic notarization, the form has a box for that too, plus space to name your tamper-evident notarization vendor(s).
3. Sign the oath. The oath section is sworn before you can submit it; it affirms you meet the residency requirement of SDCL 18-1-1 and will faithfully perform the duties of the office.
4. Mail the original application with the $30 filing fee to the Secretary of State, 500 E Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501. Photocopies are not accepted.
5. Wait for your commission certificate. You are not authorized to notarize anything until the Secretary of State issues and mails back a Notary Public Commission certificate.

Renewing follows the identical steps. You may submit a renewal application up to 60 days before your current commission expires; the office cannot backdate an application, so it must arrive before the date you want the new term to start.

The seal imprinted on your application is the only one you may use once commissioned. To add a second seal, change your seal, or update it for any reason, you must first file a Notary Change Request Form with the new imprint and receive the Secretary of State's approval before using it. Required elements:

• Your name, exactly as commissioned and as you sign notarizations.
• The words “Notary Public” and “South Dakota.”
• A border fully surrounding the imprint.
• The word “Seal” inside the border, for rubber-stamp and electronic seals.
• The commission expiration date, if you include it at all, must sit outside the border — never inside it.

A South Dakota notary commission runs for six years from the date the Secretary of State issues it, expiring at midnight on the expiration date. There is no limit on the number of times a commission may be renewed. You may apply to renew starting 60 days before expiration; if you want to keep the same commission month and day, mail the renewal before the current commission lapses. A notary must keep using the old expiration date on documents until it actually passes, then switch to the new one shown on the new commission certificate.

To perform a fully electronic remote notarization under SDCL 18-1-11.2, a South Dakota notary must:

• Already hold a South Dakota notary commission. RON is an added capability, not a separate credential.
• Confirm identity with two different methods of identity proofing — the statute requires two, not one, for a fully electronic act.
• Use a tamper-evident electronic notarization system that the notary has selected and reported to the Secretary of State by name, on a Notary Change Form. South Dakota does not certify, approve or maintain a list of vendors — choosing and vetting the platform is the notary's own responsibility.
• Create an audio-visual recording of the entire notarization and retain it — or have it held by a designated repository — for ten years from the date it was performed (SDCL 18-1-11.3).
• Stay physically located in South Dakota at the moment of the notarization. Jurisdiction turns on the notary's physical location, not the signer's — the signer may be anywhere in the world, in another U.S. state or another country.

To register: file a Notary Change Form (or check the box on a first-time application) naming the tamper-evident system(s) you'll use, and attach an image of your electronic seal once you have one. The Secretary of State then issues a certificate confirming e-notary status; e-notaries are also flagged as such in the office's public Notary Public Search tool.

SB 211's signing and effective dates are reported inconsistently across secondary sources — the bill was signed March 14, 2024, with its provisions taking effect during 2024. Confirm the precise effective date against SDCL 18-1-11.2 itself if it matters to your situation.

A South Dakota notary may charge a fee for each instrument notarized, with one exception: a notary may never charge a fee to notarize a request for an absentee ballot.