Written by Acorn Sales Company, manufacturing stamps and seals since 1964 · Reviewed by Holly R, VP of Sales and Marketing at Acorn Sales, against the Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects for engineers and architects, and the Nebraska State Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors for land surveyors and Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01 on 21 September 2026 · Updated 21 September 2026
Nebraska is one of the few states where no size or diameter is stipulated at all. The Board of Engineers and Architects says so directly in its published seal guidance: the Board does not stipulate a specific size or diameter, and whether the seal is applied by embossing, ink or electronic rendering, it must remain legible. The rule agrees, conditioning validity on legibility rather than dimension. The same guidance adds something unusual: the seal may be affixed to plans in any color, so long as it is legible.
What Nebraska is strict about is the wording. Four items are required: State of Nebraska, your name as licensed, your license number, and the words Architect or Professional (discipline) Engineer. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(1) provides that where a professional engineer’s license was issued in a specific discipline, the discipline shall be specified on the seal. A Nebraska PE seal reading only Professional Engineer is the classic defect, and the board’s guidance is blunt about it: a seal that differs from the board’s example will be deemed invalid and a conforming seal must be obtained.
Land surveyors are a different matter entirely. Nebraska professional land surveyors do not buy a seal; their examining board issues one. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121 provides that the examining board shall provide for each person licensed a seal bearing the licensee’s name and the legend Professional Land Surveyor, and Chapter 6 § 001.01 of the Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors rules states that each registrant will be issued a rubber stamp seal and a digital seal by the Examining Board. Anything bought commercially is at best a facsimile that the examining board has to approve.
Nebraska PE seal requirements at a glance
| Requirement | Nebraska rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01 |
| Required elements | State of Nebraska, Your name as licensed, Your license number and The words Architect or Professional (discipline) Engineer, with the engineering discipline named | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(1) |
| Size and shape | No size is stipulated by the Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects. | Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects, Licensee Seals and Technical Submissions guidance |
| Device allowed | For engineers and architects the rule is device-agnostic and legibility-driven: “The seal used by an architect or professional engineer shall be legible, whether an embossing, computer generated, or other type of seal. | 110 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, rule 6.1.3 |
| Signature and date | Read the statute and the rule together, because they are not worded identically. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(2) |
| What must be sealed | Engineers and architects: all technical submissions and calculations presented to a client or any public or governmental agency; the seal goes on each sheet of original drawings under rule 6.1.4, and on the title page and/or first page as well as the last page of specifications, reports, studies, and other documents under rule 6.1.5. Rule 6.1.5.1 provides relief for large multi-licensee specifications, allowing the seal on separate sheets placed at the front and back listing the sections each licensee prepared. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(3), (4) |
| Electronic seal | Nebraska names no technology on either side. | 110 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, rule 6.1.8 |
| Renewal and lapse | Neb. | Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 81-3437.01(3), (5), 81-8,121 |
| Firm number on documents | Engineering and architecture organizations need a certificate of authorization, and the certificate of authorization number has to appear on the documents. | Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects, Licensee Seals and Technical Submissions guidance |
| Licensing board | The Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects for engineers and architects, and the Nebraska State Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors for land surveyors | Nebraska Revised Statutes §§ 81-3401 to 81-3455, the Engineers |
Rules for other states are on PE stamp requirements by state.
Is a seal required in Nebraska?
Nebraska requires a seal Nebraska splits this across two boards and two acts, and the engineering duty is statutory. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(1) requires each licensee authorized to practice architecture or engineering to obtain a seal. Subsection (3): “The seal shall be on all technical submissions and calculations whenever presented to a client or any public or governmental agency.” Subsection (4) places it on all originals, copies, tracings, or other reproducible drawings and the first page of specifications, reports, and studies, so that seal, signature, and date reproduce, and makes application of the seal a certification that the work was done by the licensee or under the licensee's control. For land surveyors the trigger is softer on its face: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121 says plats, reports, and field notes issued by a professional land surveyor “may be stamped with his or her seal or a facsimile thereof which is approved by the examining board during the life of his or her license,” but the surveyors' own rules make final plats a must-seal item while preliminary plats are not.
What must appear on the seal
- State of Nebraska
- Your name as licensed
- Your license number
- The words Architect or Professional (discipline) Engineer, with the engineering discipline named
For engineers, the discipline is not optional: § 81-3437.01(1) provides that if a professional engineer's license has been issued in a specific discipline, the discipline shall be specified on the seal, and the statute frames the required wording as Professional (discipline) Engineer. A Nebraska PE seal that just says Professional Engineer with no discipline is the classic defect. The board's published seal guidance is blunt about deviation, stating that should a Nebraska licensee's seal differ from the board's example, it will be deemed invalid and a conforming seal must be obtained. The board also states that the seal may be affixed to plans in any color as long as it is legible, which is unusual and worth knowing. Land surveyors are different and are not a vendor market at all: see the firm and quirk slots.
Size and shape
No size is stipulated by the Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects. The board's own published seal guidance says so directly: the Board does not stipulate a specific size or diameter, and whether applied through embossing, ink, or electronic rendering, the seal must remain legible. That matches the rule, which conditions validity on legibility rather than dimension. Nothing in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01 or in 110 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, read in full, prescribes a diameter. For land surveyors the question does not arise in the usual way, because the examining board issues the seal itself.
Embosser, rubber stamp or digital
For engineers and architects the rule is device-agnostic and legibility-driven: “The seal used by an architect or professional engineer shall be legible, whether an embossing, computer generated, or other type of seal. In the absence of legibility, the seal is invalid.” The safe buy is an inked or self-inking stamp, because § 81-3437.01(4) requires the seal, signature, and date to reproduce on copies and tracings, and an embossed-only impression usually fails that. For land surveyors, the device is not the licensee's to choose: the examining board issues a rubber stamp seal and a digital seal to each registrant.
Signing and dating
Read the statute and the rule together, because they are not worded identically. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(2) requires that whenever the seal is applied, the licensee's signature and the date of the seal's application “shall be placed across or adjacent to the seal in a manner that does not obscure the licensee's name or the license number on the seal.” The board rule is narrower: rule 6.1.6 provides that “No seal shall be valid unless signed across the face of the seal with the architect's or professional engineer's name and the date on which the material was signed.” The board's public guidance page follows the statute and says across or adjacent. Signing across the face satisfies both readings, so that is what to design for. The date is the date the material was signed. The land surveyor rule uses the permissive form: no seal is valid unless accompanied by a signature next to or signed across the face of the seal with the surveyor's name and the date the document was signed.
Nebraska land surveyors do not buy a stamp, the board issues it
This is the fact that decides whether there is a sale. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121 provides that the examining board “shall provide for each person licensed a seal bearing the licensee's name and the legend Professional Land Surveyor”, and the Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors' own rules, Chapter 6 § 001.01, state that each person registered as a professional land surveyor will be issued a rubber stamp seal and a digital seal by the Examining Board. The statute then allows plats, reports, and field notes to be stamped with that seal or a facsimile “approved by the examining board”.
So a Nebraska PLS ordering a seal from a commercial supplier is, at best, ordering a facsimile that the examining board has to approve, and is more likely simply unaware that the board already sent one. Sell into that market only with the board's approval path in hand, and never by inference from what a neighboring state allows.
The engineering side is the opposite and is a normal vendor market, but it has its own trap: the discipline. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(1) requires that where a professional engineer's license was issued in a specific discipline, the discipline be specified on the seal, and the board's guidance says a seal that differs from its example will be deemed invalid and must be replaced. Ask for the discipline in writing on every Nebraska PE order, and note that the Board of Engineers and Architects publishes no size or diameter requirement at all, so legibility, not dimension, is the acceptance test.
Which documents must be sealed
Engineers and architects: all technical submissions and calculations presented to a client or any public or governmental agency; the seal goes on each sheet of original drawings under rule 6.1.4, and on the title page and/or first page as well as the last page of specifications, reports, studies, and other documents under rule 6.1.5. Rule 6.1.5.1 provides relief for large multi-licensee specifications, allowing the seal on separate sheets placed at the front and back listing the sections each licensee prepared. Carve-outs: rule 6.1.7 exempts documents clearly marked Draft prepared for preliminary submission and review, including those prepared for a client or governmental agency, unless the receiving entity requires otherwise; and rule 6.1.9.1 states that architects and professional engineers are not obligated to seal record or as-built drawings. Land surveyors: final plats must be prepared, signed, sealed, and certified, while preliminary plats must be prepared by a professional land surveyor but are not required to be signed, sealed, or certified.
Electronic and digital seals
Nebraska names no technology on either side. The engineering rule treats an electronic seal as just another legible seal and puts the duty on the licensee: rule 6.1.8 provides that architects and professional engineers are responsible for providing adequate security over their seal and signature wherever it appears, regardless of whether the seal and signature is produced electronically or by other means. The land surveyors' rules carry the same security duty in Chapter 6 § 001.07. There is no required certificate authority, no PKI specification, and no board-approved digital signature process in either scheme. The distinctive Nebraska feature is on the surveying side: the examining board issues each registrant a digital seal along with the rubber stamp seal.
Renewal, lapse and retirement
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(3) makes it unlawful for a licensee to affix the seal, or permit it to be affixed, to any document after the expiration of the certificate, or for the purpose of aiding or abetting another person to evade the Engineers and Architects Regulation Act. On the surveying side § 81-8,121 makes it unlawful for anyone to stamp or seal any document after the license has been suspended, revoked, or has expired. Subsection (5) of § 81-3437.01 covers the visiting professional: a temporary permit holder uses the home state seal and affixes the signature and temporary permit number to the work. Not addressed: neither act nor either rule set requires destruction or surrender of the seal, or says whether a license number changes on reinstatement, though on the surveying side the board issued the seal in the first place.
Firm registration
Engineering and architecture organizations need a certificate of authorization, and the certificate of authorization number has to appear on the documents. The board's published guidance on technical submissions requires that where work is performed through an organization rather than by an individual, the submission carry the project name, project address, the organization's legal name or DBA, the organization's contact information, and the organization's certificate of authorization number, on each drawing and on the cover or first page of specifications, reports, and studies. Where the work is by an individual and not through an organization, the required items are project name, project address, licensee name, and licensee contact information. The organization does not get a seal of its own; the individual licensee still seals. This organization-number-on-the-sheet requirement is easy to miss because it sits in the technical submissions rules rather than in the seal section.
What to check before you order
Nebraska is two different jobs. If you are a professional engineer or an architect, four text items are required, State of Nebraska, your name, your license number, and the words Architect or Professional (discipline) Engineer, with your engineering discipline named on the die; there is no board-stipulated diameter, so build for legibility and for reproduction on copies; embossing, computer generated, and other seal types are all lawful, and the seal may be in any color as long as it is legible; and leave clear space so your signature and date can run across the face, which is what the board rule requires even though the statute says across or adjacent. If you practice through an organization, its certificate of authorization number belongs on the technical submissions, not on the seal. If you are a professional land surveyor, stop there: the examining board issues both the rubber stamp seal and the digital seal, so yours comes from the examining board rather than from a shop, and any facsimile must be one the examining board approved.
Browse professional engineer stamps and seals.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a PE seal in Nebraska?
Yes. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(1) requires each licensee authorized to practice architecture or engineering to obtain a seal, and subsection (3) sets the trigger: “The seal shall be on all technical submissions and calculations whenever presented to a client or any public or governmental agency.” Subsection (4) places it on all originals, copies, tracings or other reproducible drawings and on the first page of specifications, reports and studies, so that seal, signature and date reproduce. Applying the seal certifies that the work was done by you or under your control.
What size does a Nebraska PE seal have to be?
There is no required size. The Board of Engineers and Architects states in its Licensee Seals and Technical Submissions guidance that it does not stipulate a specific size or diameter. Nothing in § 81-3437.01 or in 110 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 6, read in full, prescribes a diameter. Rule 6.1.3 makes legibility the test instead, so build the die around the wording and the title block it has to fit.
Does my Nebraska seal have to name my engineering discipline?
Yes, where your license was issued in a specific discipline. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(1) provides that the discipline shall be specified on the seal, and frames the required wording as Professional (discipline) Engineer. Get the discipline in writing before anything is engraved. The board’s guidance states that a seal differing from its example will be deemed invalid and must be replaced.
What color can a Nebraska seal be?
Any color, as long as the impression is legible. The board’s published seal guidance states that the seal may be affixed to plans in any color provided it is legible. That is unusual among states and it follows from rule 6.1.3, which conditions validity on legibility rather than on a prescribed ink or dimension.
Can I use an embosser or a computer-generated seal in Nebraska?
Yes. The rule is device-agnostic: “The seal used by an architect or professional engineer shall be legible, whether an embossing, computer generated, or other type of seal. In the absence of legibility, the seal is invalid.” The practical caution is that § 81-3437.01(4) requires the seal, signature and date to reproduce on copies and tracings, and an embossed-only impression usually fails that, so an inked or self-inking stamp is the safer working device.
Where do the signature and date go on a Nebraska document?
Design for a signature across the face of the seal, because that satisfies both texts. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(2) requires the signature and the date of the seal’s application to be “placed across or adjacent to the seal in a manner that does not obscure the licensee’s name or the license number on the seal.” Rule 6.1.6 is narrower: no seal is valid unless signed across the face of the seal with the name and the date on which the material was signed. The board’s public guidance follows the statute and says across or adjacent.
Which Nebraska documents have to be sealed?
All technical submissions and calculations presented to a client or any public or governmental agency. Rule 6.1.4 puts the seal on each sheet of original drawings; rule 6.1.5 puts it on the title page and/or first page as well as the last page of specifications, reports and studies. Rule 6.1.5.1 gives relief on large multi-licensee specifications, allowing separate sheets front and back listing the sections each licensee prepared. Two carve-outs: rule 6.1.7 exempts documents clearly marked Draft prepared for preliminary submission and review, unless the receiving entity requires otherwise, and rule 6.1.9.1 states that licensees are not obligated to seal record or as-built drawings.
Do Nebraska land surveyors buy their own seal?
No. The Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors issues it. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-8,121 provides that the examining board shall provide each licensed person a seal bearing the licensee’s name and the legend Professional Land Surveyor, and the board’s Chapter 6 § 001.01 states that each registrant will be issued a rubber stamp seal and a digital seal by the Examining Board. The statute then allows plats, reports and field notes to be stamped with that seal or a facsimile “approved by the examining board.” A Nebraska land surveyor ordering commercially is ordering a facsimile that requires the examining board’s approval, and may simply not realize the board has already sent one.
Does my firm’s certificate of authorization number go on the drawings?
Yes, and this one is easy to miss because it sits in the technical submissions rules rather than the seal section. The board’s guidance requires that where work is performed through an organization rather than by an individual, each drawing and the cover or first page of specifications, reports and studies carry the project name, the project address, the organization’s legal name or DBA, its contact information and its certificate of authorization number. Where the work is by an individual, the items are project name, project address, licensee name and licensee contact information. The organization gets no seal; the individual licensee still seals.
What happens if my Nebraska license expires?
Sealing becomes unlawful. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(3) makes it unlawful for a licensee to affix the seal, or permit it to be affixed, to any document after the certificate expires, or to aid or abet another person in evading the Engineers and Architects Regulation Act. On the surveying side, § 81-8,121 makes it unlawful for anyone to stamp or seal any document after a license has been suspended, revoked or expired. Neither act nor either rule set requires the device to be destroyed or surrendered.
Does Nebraska require a particular digital signature technology?
No. Neither scheme names a certificate authority, a PKI specification or a board-approved digital signature process. Rule 6.1.8 puts the duty on the licensee: architects and professional engineers are responsible for providing adequate security over their seal and signature wherever it appears, regardless of whether it is produced electronically or by other means. The land surveyors’ rules carry the same duty at Chapter 6 § 001.07, and their board issues each registrant a digital seal along with the rubber stamp.
I am visiting Nebraska on a temporary permit. Whose seal do I use?
Your home state seal. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3437.01(5) provides that a temporary permit holder uses the home state seal and affixes the signature and the temporary permit number to the work.
