Written by Acorn Sales Company, manufacturing stamps and seals since 1964 · Reviewed by Holly R, VP of Sales and Marketing at Acorn Sales, against chapter 8 of title 27 of the Virgin Islands Code and the Virgin Islands Board of Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors inside the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, including that board's application, renewal form and requirements pages. We found no promulgated rules of this board and no published seal design, so confirm the artwork with the board on 22 September 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
One board licenses land surveyors, architects and engineers here, and the whole seal duty is a single subsection. 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) requires each licensee, on receipt of the license, to obtain “a seal of the design authorized by the Board, bearing the licensee's name and the legend ‘Architect’, ‘Engineer’, or ‘Land Surveyor’, as the case may be.” Maps, plats, surveys and other documents prepared by the licensee are then signed and stamped with it when issued for filing with public authorities.
Two things a mainland template gets wrong. No diameter, shape, license number or territory name is prescribed, and the design is left to the board, which publishes none we could find. And any graduate civil engineer is written into the practice of land surveying by § 282(f), which is not how most states draw the line.
United States Virgin Islands land surveyor seal requirements at a glance
| Requirement | United States Virgin Islands rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes. Every licensee obtains a seal on receipt of the license. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Required elements | Your name and the legend “Land Surveyor”, on a seal of the design authorized by the Board. Nothing else: no license number, no territory name, no date. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Size and shape | Not prescribed. No diameter, no shape, and no published board design we could locate. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b); no board rules located |
| Device allowed | Not specified. The statute's verb is stamped, which neither requires an embosser nor rules one out. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Signature and date | Documents are signed and stamped. No date requirement appears anywhere in chapter 8. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| What must be sealed | “Plans, specifications, reports, maps, plats, surveys, or other documents prepared by the licensee”, when issued for filing with public authorities. | 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) |
| Electronic seal | No board standard located. Under the territory's electronic transactions act each agency decides whether and in what form it accepts electronic records and signatures. | 11 V.I.C. §§ 107, 118 |
| Renewal and lapse | Valid one year, and DLCA states permanent licenses run September 1 to August 31. A license also becomes invalid if the licensee leaves the territory. | 27 V.I.C. § 287(a), (b); DLCA requirements page |
| Firm requirements | No certificate of authorization exists. A firm may practice provided everyone acting for it is licensed and individually liable. DLCA separately issues a Land Surveying Firm license. | 27 V.I.C. § 291(4); DLCA requirements page |
| Regulator | Virgin Islands Board of Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors, reestablished within the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs | 27 V.I.C. § 282a, read on 22 September 2026 |
Is a seal required in the US Virgin Islands?
Yes, and § 286(b) states it as a duty rather than a permission. The same subsection bars a licensee from affixing the seal, or permitting it to be affixed, to documents after the license has expired, or to aid any other person in evading the chapter. Enforcement sits in § 289, which makes it a misdemeanor to practice land surveying here unlicensed, to use a title conveying that you are licensed here when you are not, to present or use the license or seal of another, or to use an expired, suspended or revoked license.
What must appear on the seal
The statute names two elements and stops.
- The licensee's name
- The legend “Land Surveyor”
The legend is the bare phrase Land Surveyor. Chapter 8 does not use Professional Land Surveyor or Registered Land Surveyor as a seal legend, and no license number, territory name or expiration date is prescribed. The only qualifier is that the seal be “of the design authorized by the Board”, so the board, not the code, holds whatever further specification exists. Signature and seal travel together, but no date is required anywhere in chapter 8, so dating stays a matter of your own practice.
Size and shape: nothing is published
Not prescribed. Chapter 8 sets no diameter, no shape and no minimum legible size, and neither the board's application, its renewal form nor its requirements pages mention a seal at all. DLCA publishes rules for the Board of Public Accountancy and nothing comparable for this board, so the silence is not simply a missing web page. Treat any dimension quoted elsewhere as unverified until the board confirms it. For reference only, the round dies we cut most often where a jurisdiction fixes nothing fall between 1-1/2″ and 2″, which is our production experience rather than a territorial rule.
Embosser, rubber stamp or digital
Not specified. The statute says documents are to be “signed and stamped with the said seal”, which sounds like an inked impression, while the noun throughout is seal, the older word for an embosser. Chapter 8 does not choose and does not forbid either. Surveyors feel this more than most, because a plat is copied, recorded and scanned, and an embossed impression survives none of that. Ask the board what design it authorized and ask the office receiving the plat what it accepts.
Civil engineers are written into surveying practice
This is the territory's sharpest departure from mainland practice acts. Section 282(h) defines land surveying in the usual terms, covering determination and description of areas for conveyance, corners, lines, boundaries and monuments, platting of land and subdivisions including topography, grading, drainage and utility extensions, and the records that go with them. Then § 282(f) adds a sentence to the engineering definition: any graduate civil engineer from a recognized college or university is included in the practice of land surveying. Section 291(7) separately preserves land surveying work by an engineer that is incidental to engineering. A plat here may carry an Engineer legend rather than a Land Surveyor legend.
Residency is part of the license here
Section 283 conditions licensure on being at least twenty-one, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the Virgin Islands for one year before applying. Under § 287(b) the license then becomes automatically invalid if the licensee leaves the territory, and recovering it takes an affidavit sworn before an authorized official confirming resumed residence. A surveyor who works a long mainland contract and keeps paying renewals is not necessarily holding a live license, and a seal is only as good as the license behind it. DLCA's licensure page also routes land surveyors through the NCEES engineering examinations and does not name the surveying examinations, which is worth confirming with the board before you plan an exam.
Which documents must be sealed
The trigger is filing with a public authority. Plans, specifications, reports, maps, plats, surveys or other documents prepared by the licensee are signed and stamped when issued for filing with public authorities, which is narrower than the usual mainland formula of sealing all final work released to a client. Chapter 8 contains no minimum technical standards for a survey, no monumentation rule, no required plat note and no certificate wording, which is the other large gap against mainland practice. We did not review the territory's recording statutes, so we cannot tell you what a recorder separately requires on a plat.
Electronic and digital seals
No board standard exists that we could find: no electronic seal rule, no digital signature specification, no certificate requirement and no file format guidance in chapter 8 or in the board's published material. What the territory has is a general Uniform Electronic Transactions Act at title 11, chapter 1. Section 107 gives electronic records and signatures legal effect, and § 118 leaves each Virgin Islands agency to determine whether and to what extent it accepts them and to specify format, signature type and control processes. Whether a digitally sealed plat is acceptable is an agency question, not a board one.
Renewal, firms and the business license nobody warns you about
A license is valid one year, the secretary is to notify licensees of the expiration date at least a month beforehand, and DLCA states permanent licenses run September 1 to August 31. Chapter 8 sets no continuing education requirement, and renewal through the DLCA portal requires electronic tax approval from the Bureau of Internal Revenue. There is no certificate of authorization for firms; § 291(4) instead permits practice through a partnership or corporation provided the individuals are licensed and personally liable, while DLCA issues a Land Surveying Firm license and 27 V.I.C. §§ 301 and 302 require a separate business license on top.
What we could not confirm, and what to check before you order
We read chapter 8 in full, the relevant parts of chapter 9, the electronic transactions act, the building permit sections of title 29, and the board's own forms and pages. Four gaps we are naming rather than filling: the design the board authorized under § 286(b); whether promulgated rules of this board exist at all; whether the board expects an embosser, an inked stamp or both; and what the territory's recording statutes separately require on a plat, which we did not review. Get the authorized design from the board in writing, check the spelling of your name as licensed, then contact us and we will cut the artwork to what the board tells you. This page is research, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Does the US Virgin Islands require a land surveyor to have a seal?
Yes. 27 V.I.C. § 286(b) requires each licensee, on receipt of the license, to obtain a seal of the design authorized by the board bearing the licensee's name and the legend for the profession licensed. For a surveyor that legend is Land Surveyor.
What has to appear on a Virgin Islands land surveyor seal?
Your name and the legend “Land Surveyor”. That is the whole statutory list. No license number, territory name or expiration date is prescribed, and the seal must also match the design the board authorizes, which is not published anywhere we could find.
Can a civil engineer sign and seal a survey here?
Section 282(f) states that any graduate civil engineer from a recognized college or university is included in the practice of land surveying, and § 291(7) preserves land surveying work by an engineer that is incidental to engineering. That is broader than most mainland acts, so a plat here may carry an Engineer legend.
Does the territory set minimum standards for a survey?
Not in chapter 8. There is no monumentation rule, no accuracy standard, no required plat note and no certificate wording in the chapter, and we located no board rules supplying them. We did not review the recording statutes, so ask the recording office what it requires on a plat.
Is an electronic seal accepted on a plat?
There is no board rule on electronic seals. The territory's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act gives electronic signatures legal effect, and 11 V.I.C. § 118 leaves each Virgin Islands agency to decide whether and in what format it accepts them.
What happens to my license if I move off island?
It becomes invalid. Under § 287(b) a license is automatically invalid if the licensee leaves the Virgin Islands, and reinstatement takes an affidavit sworn before an authorized official that residence has resumed. Licensure also requires US citizenship and a year of residence before applying.
Does my firm need a certificate of authorization?
There is none in chapter 8. A firm may practice under § 291(4) provided everyone acting for it is licensed and individually liable. DLCA separately issues a Land Surveying Firm license, and a business license under §§ 301 and 302 is required on top.
How confident are you in this page?
Confident on the statute, openly incomplete beyond it. Chapter 8 is clear about the duty, the legend and the documents. We could not find the board's authorized design, any promulgated board rules, any stated preference between an embosser and an inked stamp, or any survey standards, and we did not review the recording statutes.
